Book Review: "The Prussian Officer and Other Stories" by DH Lawrence

DH Lawrence is best known for his wit, his bluntness and his ability with wording things to either shroud the true meaning in mystery or scandalise the literary world. As we all know, he went into a self-imposed exile after the case surrounding some of his books (well, a certain one of his books most of all). But this book of short stories we see here sort of reminds us why DH Lawrence is still, to this day, considered a fantastic writer. His ingenious storylines shine a light on his time and all of its ironies. His social commentary is never without atypical characters and his way with poetic language has never let the reader down.

In The Prussian Officer we meet a German military captain who gambled away in his inheritance and now, lives in deep frustration and isolation within his life. He regrets things. A younger man, an orderly, is involved with a woman and lives in more freedom than his captain. This obviously makes the military captain jealous and he begins to assign degrading tasks to the younger man, forcing him into isolation or even into humiliation and injury. This goes on for a while until we are met with quite a horrifying end to the story. There is something deeply distressing about the treatment of the orderly but what is even more realistic to us is that in-depth emotion of wanting what someone else has. The only difference is that the captain acts on it in his everyday life and most of us readers, do not.

In another story though, DH Lawrence returns to the familiar - exploring familial relationships and gender constraints when it comes to dire circumstances. Two sisters feature in the story Daughters of the Vicar and they both become teachers to support the family. However, when it comes to gender, their lives diverge and one gets married whilst the other does not conform. The rural English setting, the glances into the difference between love and duty and the way in which we see different members of the family and their various desires and wants are all classic themes of DH Lawrence which we definitely see in the novel Sons and Lovers. I thought that though this is slightly longer than many of the stories in the anthology, it was definitely one of the more immersive ones. Another story which features this kind of familial relation narrative is Second Best, though (as it states in its name), I didn't find that one as compelling as the first.

The Shadow in the Rose Garden is another great story which features a married couple. The wife sneaks off to meet a lover and her husband discovers this - he is confronted with the true shame of having his wife cheat on him. There is a huge theme of madness that underlies the story which I won't tell you exactly about because there's also a metaphor about the garden you probably want to realise. The story itself is again, one of the stronger ones in the anthology because the madness conveyed by DH Lawrence is almost lyrical. As I have said, he has a beautiful way with words and that does not escape him here.

Goose Fair is a story I wasn't expecting because well, I've been to the fair in question albeit I went in 2024. I'm not going to lie, I'm not one for fairs and I often don't like large crowds. Jack is visiting the fair with his girlfriend Edith and there's a rumour about burning down a factory. This story isn't a light narrative featuring a fair but rather a story of torment, rumour and hearsay. I think that this is probably one of the more conceptually weird stories in the anthology and also it gets a little dark from time to time because of the torment that is featured. Honestly though, this shift in tone is not surprising if you're familiar with the works of DH Lawrence.

All in all, I found this anthology thrilling. The White Stocking, The Christening and Odour of Chrysanthemums are also incredible stories that I am going to let you discover if you choose to dive in. DH Lawrence often does a great job at lengthy narratives, but if you want to be convinced of his short story abilities then you need this book in your life.