20 October 2023
An ‘unsuccessful, widely-reported prosecution’ proved to be ‘an unbeatable marketing tool’ for D H Lawrence novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. In this week’s NLJ, freelance feature writer William Gibson revisits the notorious trial
Comments made in court by both prosecuting and defence counsel sound farcical now. The book shocked the class-conscious British establishment for a variety of reasons, one being Penguin’s decision to sell the book in paperback, making it widely affordable, even for the working classes.
Gibson writes: ‘The thought of such classes reading about adultery between an aristocratic woman and her working class employee was anathema to the upper middle class lawyers involved.’
RELATED ARTICLES
