Based very closely on D.H. Lawrence's own life, SONS AND LOVERS (1913) tells the story of young Paul Morel, son of the troubled union of an educated, upwardly mobile mother and an ill-tempered, unlettered coal miner father who speaks in a broad dialect. Although in later life Lawrence regretted his brutal portrait of his father, the hero of the novel is most definitely his mother's boy, becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his mean, impoverished home in a Nottinghamshire coal town. He is drawn to a young woman named Miriam (based on Lawrence's old flame Jessie Chambers), with whom he reads poetry and speaks French; his voracious mother fears that Paul's attraction to Miriam will jeopardize her own relationship with him, and does everything she can to come between them. Paul then begins an affair with Clara, a married woman and a feminist. In the end, Paul finds the resolution to reject his background for good; knowing he must forget both Miriam and Clara, he sets out with renewed resolution on a quest for a life of his own. Unique for its sexual frankness and working-class background, SONS AND LOVERS is Lawrence's first major achievement, and a groundbreaking step forward in the history of English realistic fiction.

戴·赫·勞倫斯，（David Herbert Lawrence，1885～1930）英國詩人、小說傢、散文傢。齣生於礦工傢庭，當過屠戶會計、廠商雇員和小學教師，曾在國內外漂泊十多年，對現實抱批判否定態度。他寫過詩，但主要寫長篇小說，共有10部，最著名的為《虹》（1915）、《愛戀中的女人》（1921）和《查太萊夫人的情人》（1928）。

勞倫斯生於1885年。父親是礦工，缺少教育；母親齣身上流社會，有良好的修養。這種文化上的差異，使他們經常吵吵鬧鬧。但這種差異使勞倫斯從父親那裏得到瞭豐富的社會經驗，從母親那裏至高無上的關懷。也許是母親過分溺愛，勞倫斯有嚴重的戀母情結。他在給朋友的信中說：“我們相互愛著，幾乎像丈夫跟妻子那樣的愛，同時又是母親與兒子的愛。我們倆就像一個人，彼此那樣敏感，我們之間不要語言。這挺可怕，弄得我有些方麵不正常。”

勞倫斯是最富想象力的作傢，他如不過早地逝世，肯定會有更驚世的作品問世，也許更會被列為禁書。