Book excerpt: One of the most controversial yet celebrated names in English Literature, D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) wrote his first novel The White Peacock in 1931. Lawrence's novels like Women in Love (1920) and Lady Chatterly's Lover (1928) were banned for explicit description of sexual activity and had to be privately printed. Lawrence's personal life was beset with turmoil. His childhood was scarred by a traumatic sexual experience .In 1912, he ran away with Frieda Weekly, his professor's wife. In 1929, Lawrence became seriously ill and died of tuberculosis on 2 March 1930.