The Virgin and the Gipsy (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: D. H. Lawrence
- First Published: 1930
- Type of Work: Psychological romance
- Time of Work: The 1920’s
- Setting: A rural rectory in the Midlands of England
- Principal Characters: Yvette Saywell, Lucille, The Rector, The Mater (Granny), Aunt Cissie, Uncle Fred, The Gipsy, The Eastwoods
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Freedom, Values, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Virginity or virgins, 1920’s, Emotions, England or English people, Widows or widowers, Senses or sensation, Church or churches
- Locales: England
The Novella
The primary conflict in this posthumously published short novel, as suggested by the title, is between the virginal and therefore unlived life of the young protagonist Yvette and the sensual and therefore vital world of the gipsy. This tension is heightened by the stifling nature of Yvette’s rectory home. Presided over by the domineering, toadlike grandmother, intolerably crowded by the presence of the repressed and always angry Aunt Cissie and the pinched and stingy Uncle Fred, the rectory is a squalid place that threatens to engulf the rector’s two daughters...
[The entire page is 2098 words long]
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