D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover is one of the best-known and most resonant works of the twentieth century. Originally banned from publication in numerous countries, its story of scandal, class divide, and the English countryside is infamous. Above all its themes have intersected contemporary social and political concerns with respect to sexuality and freedom of speech. Yet, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a novel that has consistently been misunderstood and misrepresented.
Guy Cuthbertson tells the colourful story of the novel’s journey through the last hundred years. He examines how the book has been read, adapted, and reimagined across the globe, from the USA to Japan, and explores the ramifications of the 1960 ‘Chatterley trial’ – a key moment in the struggle for freedom of expression.
Lawrence was not trying to write pornography, or something to joke about. Instead, the novel accused of corrupting society was itself distorted. Cuthbertson looks at how literature impacts society, and how a novel can change its readers – and thereby change the social, cultural and political constitution of a country.

Guy Cuthbertson is professor of British literature and culture at Liverpool Hope University and the author of a major biography of Wilfred Owen as well as Peace at Last: A Portrait of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918.

The meeting will be chaired by John Pateman, author of DH Lawrence and the Gypsies and Willie Hopkin: DH Lawrence’s Socialist Friend, both published by Five Leaves.

In association with the DH Lawrence Society

Refreshments included