I pounced on this in my local indie bookshop, Beckenham Books. Penguin have apparently launched an archive series of seventy titles. And whether it’s intentional or not, it harks back to Alan Lane’s original plan when he launched Penguin Books. They were meant to be small format editions which you could carry about. And Odour of Chrysanthemums fits easily into any of my handbag pockets. And as someone who never leaves the house without a book, that neatness is a bonus.
So why did I pick this one? Well of course I already have it in other books but I was attracted by the format. Odour of Chrysanthemums is one of my favourite Lawrence short stories. It features in school anthologies (or it used to) so I’ve often studied it with students and therefore know it well. Elizabeth Bates, collier’s wife and mother of two, is anxious when her husband doesn’t come back from work although he’s a heavy drinker and may just be loitering in the pub.
Actually, of course, there has been an accident and Lawrence builds the tension until eventually fellow miners carry their workmate’s body home. I’ve read it many time but am still struck afresh by the way in which Lawrence presents the totality of the Bates marriage which wasn’t bringing either of them any satisfaction. The evocative language often arrests me so that I have to reread and marvel at sentences such as “The pit-bank loomed up beyond the pond, flames like red sores licking up its ashy sides in the afternoon’s stagnant light” or, of Walter’s dead body, “Life with its smoky burning gone from him, had left him apart and utterly alien to her.” And in contrast to all of this is Elizabeth’s father, who drives the pit train past her cottage and stops to speak to her at the beginning of the story and her mother-in-law who helps to wash the body and is already coming to terms with Walter’s death in a way Elizabeth never will. It’s masterly.
Also in this nice little book are three other stories. I thought I had read all of Lawrence’s short stories at some point or other but I have no memory of England My England or Things but enjoyed both here. The former is another story about marital disillusionment – a well-worn Laurentian theme. It presents a woman whose marriage is rooted in idealism rather than work so the family has to be propped up by her father. Then comes 1914 and he husband reluctantly signs up with inevitable consequences and the death of idealism. Things, in a way, covers similar ground as an American couple move to Europe, collect antiques and come to be dominated by them at the cost of all else.
The fourth story, The Rocking Horse Winner, is another dear old favourite. Paul is an anxious, sensitive child who senses his mother’s profligate spending habits and is haunted by voices in the house whispering “There must be more money”. In what is almost a ghost story – or certainly fiction suffused with surrealism – Paul finds an unlikely way of making a lot of money. But it’s a morality tale too. The more his mother has the more she “needs” and Paul’s voices get ever louder with, ultimately, tragic results.
Eclectic reading is what these blogs are all about and it’s a pleasure to dip into old favourites like these. I bet there are other Lawrence stories I’ve forgotten so it’s probably time to make rediscovering them into a project.
Next week on Susan’s Bookshelves: Moby Dick by Herman Melville
