The Prussian Officer and Other Stories, DH Lawrence’s first collection of short stories, was published in England in 1914 and in the USA in 1916. It contains some of the greatest stories he ever wrote, with settings ranging from the mining community of Eastwood to Germany before the First World War. This pamphlet presents two of those stories as they were originally published.
‘Goose Fair’ is set against the backdrop of the industrial troubles caused by the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. A young woman is torn between her need for a lover and her contempt for what she perceives to be his dishonesty about the burning down of a mill.
‘A Fragment of Stained Glass’ relates a story, supposedly discovered in a document from the Middle Ages, which tells of the possible triumph of love and the human spirit over the forces of religion, superstition, and social injustice.
David Herbert Lawrence, born in 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, wrote poetry, novels, short stories, plays, essays and criticism. Many of his works are autobiographical and the influence of his early experiences in Nottinghamshire can be seen throughout. Lawrence left teaching after a serious illness and eloped to Germany with Frieda Weekley. After spending the war in England, they travelled the world. Lawrence’s health continued to deteriorate, so they returned to Europe and he died on 2 March 1930 at Vence in the south of France.