SOURCE: Schulz, Volker. “D. H. Lawrence's Early Masterpiece of Short Fiction: ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’.” Studies in Short Fiction 28, no. 3 (summer 1991): 363-69.

In the following essay, Schulz interprets “Odour of Chrysanthemums” as a story about human isolation and life renewal.

D. H. Lawrence is not only a major novelist (if far from a flawless one), but also one of the great masters of the modern short story. H. E. Bates was the first of several critics who have considered his short fiction superior even to his novels: “the short stories will emerge as the more durable achievement” (201).¹ Nevertheless, it was not until 1984 that the first really comprehensive book-length study of Lawrence's short fiction appeared (Harris),² and many of the sixty-odd short stories have yet to receive the detailed critical appreciation they deserve. The following interpretation of one of Lawrence's early masterpieces of short fiction, “Odour of Chrysanthemums,” is meant...