Aaron's Rod

By D.H. Lawrence and David Herbert Lawrence

Book Overview

Aaron's Rod is a novel exploring personal conflict, societal expectations, and the struggles between professional and familial responsibilities. The protagonist, a miner and union leader, faces a turbulent inner life marked by tensions from both his career and family. His role in the miners' union and the aftermath of war have created a sense of dissonance, particularly in his relationships with those closest to him. As he navigates his obligations, the narrative delves into the complexities of balancing individual desires with external pressures. His personal struggles are intertwined with larger societal issues, such as the aftermath of war and the expectations placed on individuals within their families and communities. The story also highlights the emotional challenges of reconciling duty with personal fulfillment, exploring how these conflicts shape one's identity. The domestic setting, tinged with both excitement and tension, reflects the broader themes of disillusionment and self-discovery. Through the protagonist's journey, the novel offers insight into the human condition and the intricacies of maintaining one's sense of self in a world that demands sacrifice and conformity. The exploration of these emotional and social dynamics forms the core of the narrative.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9369427686
• ISBN13: 9789369427680
• Release Date: January 2025
• Publisher: Double 9 Books
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An odyssey of passion, individuality and art

Aaron Sisson, a coal miner and amateur flutist in the Midlands, abandons his wife and two children and escapes to Italy in the hope of throwing off the trammels of his environment and realising his individual potentials. His dream is to become recognised as a master flutist. In Florence, he mixes in intellectual and artistic circles and has an affair with an aristocratic lady who redeems him in his own eyes. Like the majority of Lawrence's novels, the central theme is the relations between men and women, though this time, it is given a twist owing to Lawrence nourishing his mind on a reading of Nietzsche, who was then gradually becoming recognised in England. In his analysis of the concept of "love" between the sexes, Lawrence perceives it as a function of the will to power, a cycle of reciprocal domination and surrender, in which the man must conquer and the woman must submit. Elements of the rejection of the "herd morality" on Aaron's part and his endeavour at self-development are both ideas of peculiarly Nietzschean provenance. The fact that Aaron realises himself through music is another echo of Nietzsche, who regarded music as the purest and most supreme of the arts, in which the passions achieve immense gratification. The title refers to the rod of Aaron in the Old Testament, one of Moses's renegade priests who built the golden calf in the desert for the worship of the Israelites. The rod, his symbol of authority and independence, finds its echo in Aaron's flute, which is broken later in the novel during an anarchist riot. There is a price to pay, Lawrence seems to imply, for daring to oppose orthodoxy and to try to create a new life for oneself. Unlike Lawrence's more famous works, such as "Lady Chatterly's Lover" and "Women in Love", which are both admirable for their rich, poetic prose, "Aaron's Rod" is drably written and occasionally tedious, with a narrative that is sometimes poorly connected, as it dwells on irrelevancies. However, the message, that of an individual fulfilling his duty to himself, is an encouraging and refreshing one.

'Tis was a very elequently written book.

"Aaron's Rod" was a very elequently written book combining both powerful imagery along with a keen sense of imagination. The majority of D.H. Lawrence's books' are written in much the same style. 'Tis unfortunate that the written word of his day is not as visible in ours.