The Rainbow彩虹

In 1915, Lawrence's frank representation of sexuality inThe Rainbow caused a furore and the novel was seized by thepolice and banned almost as soon as it was published. Todayit is recognised as one of the classic English novels of thetwentieth century. The Rainbow is about three generations of the Brangwen familyof Nottinghamshire from the 1840s to the early years of thetwentieth century. Within this historical framework Lawrence'sessential concern is with the passional lives of his charactersand he explores the pressures that determine their lives, usinga religious symbolism in which the 'rainbow' of the title ishis unifying motif. His primary focus is on the individual'sstruggle to growth and fulfilment within marriage and changingsocial circumstances, a process shown to grow more difficultthrough the generations. Young Ursula Brangwen, whose storyis continued in Women in Love, is ,finally the central figure inLawrence's anatomy of the confining structures of Englishsocial life and the impact of industrialisation and urbanisationon the human psyche.