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The catchy title for the book duplicates the title of a short essay from 1942 that is included in the volume, in which Lawrence composes a variously poignant and dyspeptic introduction to a meticulous bibliography of his own works compiled by Edward D. McDonald. The piece reveals evidence of Lawrence’s impatience about the bureaucracies of publication and the inane emphasis by some collectors on first edition markings. More importantly, it provides anecdotal reiterations of his own fraught relation to his parents. Thus The Bad Side of Books functions as a resonant signature for the entire collection and for the essay, for both provide an accessible window into Lawrence the writer and the often misunderstood and besieged son.
The catchy title for the book duplicates the title of a short essay from 1942 that is included in the volume, in which Lawrence composes a variously poignant and dyspeptic introduction to a meticulous bibliography of his own works compiled by Edward D. McDonald. The piece reveals evidence of Lawrence’s impatience about the bureaucracies of publication and the inane emphasis by some collectors on first edition markings. More importantly, it provides anecdotal reiterations of his own fraught relation to his parents. Thus The Bad Side of Books functions as a resonant signature for the entire collection and for the essay, for both provide an accessible window into Lawrence the writer and the often misunderstood and besieged son.
   
   
The essay is especially memorable for its understated depiction of the depressing reactions of Lawrence’s parents to the publication in 1911 of his first
The essay is especially memorable for its understated depiction of the depressing reactions of Lawrence’s parents to the publication in 1911 of his first book, ''The White Peacock'': “I put it into my mother’s hands when she was
book, The White Peacock: “I put it into my mother’s hands when she was
dying. She looked at the outside, and then at the title page, and then at me
dying. She looked at the outside, and then at the title page, and then at me
with darkening eyes. And though she loved me so much, I thought she
with darkening eyes. And though she loved me so much, I thought she
doubted it could be much of a book, since no one more important than I had
doubted it could be much of a book, since no one more important than I had
written it”(207). {{sfn|Lawrence|1911|p=207}} The response of the father to Lawrence’s achievement serves
written it.”{{sfn|Lawrence|2019|p=207}} The response of the father to Lawrence’s achievement serves
as a stark indication of their understandably different perspectives on life, as
as a stark indication of their understandably different perspectives on life, as the coal-miner reacts to the revelation of how much money his son received for the book: {{" '}}Fifty pounds!’ He was dumbfounded, and looked at me with shrewd eyes, as if I were a swindler. ‘Fifty pounds! An ’tha’s never done a dog’s hard work in thy life.{{' "}}{{sfn|Lawrence|2019|p=208}}
the coal-miner reacts to the revelation of how much money his son received
for the book: “’Fifty pounds!’ He was dumbfounded, and looked at me with
shrewd eyes, as if I were a swindler. ‘Fifty pounds! An ‘tha’s never done a
dog’s hard work in thy life’”(208). {{sfn|Lawrence|1911|p=208}}


As Lawrence dramatizes so movingly in Sons and Lovers, his family life
As Lawrence dramatizes so movingly in Sons and Lovers, his family life was filled with tension and frustration that often exhausted him physically and emotionally. Yet as he also reveals in such relevant essays as “Return to
was filled with tension and frustration that often exhausted him physically
Brestwood” (1926),“Myself Revealed” (1928), and "Nottingham and the Mining Countryside” (1929), there is abundant resentment about his parents’ failures and his own: “Oh my dear and virtuous mother, who believed in a Utopia of goodness, so that your own people were never quite good enough for you—not even the spoiled delicate boy, myself.”<ref>“Return to Brestwood,” {{harvtxt|Lawrence|2019|p=294}}.</ref> By 1929, Lawrence’s earlier anger about his father, dramatized in ''Sons
and emotionally. Yet as he also reveals in such relevant essays as “Return to
and Lovers'', has long dissipated, and in “Nottingham and the Mining Countryside” he contemplates him with knowledgeable empathy and a powerful
Brestwood”(1926),“Myself Revealed”(1928), and "Nottingham and the Mining Countryside”(1929), there is abundant resentment about his parents’
failures and his own: “Oh my dear and virtuous mother, who believed in a
Utopia of goodness, so that your own people were never quite good enough
for you—not even the spoiled delicate boy, myself” (“Return to Brestwood,”294 {{sfn|Lawrence|1926|p=294}}). By 1929, Lawrence’s earlier anger about his father, dramatized in Sons
and Lovers, has long dissipated, and in “Nottingham and the Mining Countryside” he contemplates him with knowledgeable empathy and a powerful
metaphor:
metaphor:


::</blockquote>''If I think of my childhood, it’s always as if there was a lustrous sort of inner darkness, like the gloss of coal, which we moved and had our own real being. My father loved the pit. He was hurt badly more than once, but he never would stay away. He loved the contact, the intimacy, as men in war loved the intense male comradeness of the dark days. (455) {{sfn|Lawrence|1929|p=455}}''</blockquote>
{{quote|If I think of my childhood, it’s always as if there was a lustrous sort of inner darkness, like the gloss of coal, which we moved and had our own real being. My father loved the pit. He was hurt badly more than once, but he never would stay away. He loved the contact, the intimacy, as men in war loved the intense male comradeness of the dark days.{{sfn|Lawrence|2019|p=455}} }}


Thus amid this livid darkness—acutely real and symbolic at the same time—
Thus amid this livid darkness—acutely real and symbolic at the same time—Lawrence finally recognizes that he shares with his father comparable patterns of love and hurt: it is their unspoken form of secret sharer.
Lawrence finally recognizes that he shares with his father comparable patterns of love and hurt: it is their unspoken form of secret sharer.


A major reason for the success of this eclectic volume resides in Dyer’s decision to forgo the customary organization of an anthology by thematic categories. The essays are arranged in a straight-line chronological order, so
A major reason for the success of this eclectic volume resides in Dyer’s decision to forgo the customary organization of an anthology by thematic categories. The essays are arranged in a straight-line chronological order, so
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{{quote|In early April I went with my wife to Syracuse for a few days, with the purple anemones blowing in the Sicilian fields, and Adonis-blood red on the little ledges, and the corn rising strong and green in the magical, malarial places, and Etna flowing now to the northward, still with her crown of snow. The lovely, lovely journey from Catania to Syracuse in the spring, winding round the blueness of that sea, where the tall pink asphodel like a lily showing her silk. Lovely, lovely Sicily, the dawn-place, Europe’s dawn, with Odysseus pushing his ship out of the shadows into the blue. Whatever had died for me, Sicily had then not died: dawn-lovely Sicily, and the Ionian Sea.{{sfn|Lawrence|2019|p=117}} }}
{{quote|In early April I went with my wife to Syracuse for a few days, with the purple anemones blowing in the Sicilian fields, and Adonis-blood red on the little ledges, and the corn rising strong and green in the magical, malarial places, and Etna flowing now to the northward, still with her crown of snow. The lovely, lovely journey from Catania to Syracuse in the spring, winding round the blueness of that sea, where the tall pink asphodel like a lily showing her silk. Lovely, lovely Sicily, the dawn-place, Europe’s dawn, with Odysseus pushing his ship out of the shadows into the blue. Whatever had died for me, Sicily had then not died: dawn-lovely Sicily, and the Ionian Sea.{{sfn|Lawrence|2019|p=117}} }}


===Citation===
===Citations===
{{Reflist|15em}}
{{Reflist|15em}}


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