''Mr Noon'' is an unfinished novel by the English writer

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

. It appears to have been drafted in 1920 and 1921 and then abandoned by the author. It consists of two parts. The first part was published posthumously by Secker as a long short story in the 1934 volume ''A Modern Lover''. This fragment was reissued in 1968 in the ''Phoenix II'' collection of Lawrence's assorted writings. It is set in the East Midlands, where the author was born and spent his youth. The second fragment was finally published along with the introductory section in 1984 and describes the experiences of the main character during his elopement to the continent. The book is characterised by a flippant, sarcastic tone as Lawrence reflects on the sexual behaviour and attitudes of provincial men and women in the period before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Reception

The biographer

Brenda Maddox Brenda, Lady Maddox ( Murphy; February 24, 1932 – June 16, 2019) was an American writer and biographer, who spent most of her adult life living and working in the UK, from 1959 until her death. She is best known for her biographies, includin ...

writes that ''Mr. Noon'' provides a new perspective on D. H. Lawrence's relationship with

Frieda Lawrence Frieda Lawrence (August 11, 1879 – August 11, 1956) was a German author and wife of the British novelist D.H. Lawrence. Life Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen (also known under her married names as Frieda Weekley, Fr ...

, and that its second half is "a factually accurate and barely fictionalized account of Lawrence and Frieda's early sexual relations." According to Maddox, the critic

Diana Trilling Diana Trilling (née Rubin; July 21, 1905 – October 23, 1996) was an American literary critic and author, one of a group of left-wing writers known as the New York Intellectuals. Background Born Diana Rubin, she married the literary and c ...

viewed the book as "biographical fact", and was so shocked by what it revealed about Frieda's sexual behaviour that she accused Lawrence of "artistic dishonesty."

Standard edition

* ''Mr Noon'' (1920?) - Parts I and II, edited by Lindeth Vasey, Cambridge University Press, 1984,

References

1934 British novels English novels Novels published posthumously Novels by D. H. Lawrence Unfinished novels Cambridge University Press books {{1930s-novel-stub