Part 1 of Essay
D. H. Lawrence’s 1914 short story, "Odour of Chrysanthemums", is still in print and considered worth reading in 1999. Perhaps it’s printed and reprinted as a matter of habit. Perhaps editors like it because other editors have. But maybe it’s a success because it’s an exceptional work. Of these three possibilities, the last ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... may turn out, either a frivolous or even a gay springtime story. Chrysanthemums are not only flowers of the autumn: they are the autumn itself . . . This man knows what he wants. He sees the scene of his story exactly. He has an authoritative mind. (Ford 257) As a fiction editor, he is quite receptive to Lawrence’s descriptive gifts. He is impressed with Lawrence’s sense of purpose. But readers needn’t assess the short story by Ford’s methods alone. Modern readers have a very different perspective than Lawrence’s ....