In the early 1970s, when I was studying at Nottingham University, Lawrence was hot. To anyone of my generation, that dip is a puzzle. But the reviews were good, and 100 years later the novel's reputation holds up, despite the recent dip in Lawrence's critical standing. And Philip Larkin did so, too, describing Lawrence as 'England's greatest novelist' and Sons and Lovers as his finest achievement: 'Cock me! Nearly every page of it is absolutely perfect.' The perfection wasn't apparent to those close to Lawrence at the time, including his childhood sweetheart Jessie Chambers, his editor Garnett, and his wife-to-be Frieda, all of whom suggested improvements and left their mark on the finished text. FR Leavis did, when he enrolled Lawrence in the 'great tradition' of the English novel, comprising Jane Austen, George Eliot, Henry James and Joseph Conrad. A century of readers have reached for the same adjective. 'It is quite a great novel' 'I remember you telling me, at the beginning, it would be great. And the word he used to Garnett recurred, in letters to friends. But he was proud when a finished copy reached him in Italy. He was already on to the next thing (a draft of what would become The Rainbow), and had 'scarcely the patience' to correct the proofs. Beneath these worries lay a deeper worry, about the text itself: 'I am a great admirer of my own stuff while it's new, but after a while I'm not so gone on it,' he admitted. He worried about the dust jacket, and arranged for a friend, Ernest Collings, to design one (like the foreword, it wasn't used). He worried whether it might benefit from a foreword (and belatedly posted one to Garnett).

He worried about the title (he had originally called the book 'Paul Morel '). 'Read my novel – it's a great novel.' Lawrence's immodesty is forgivable: the book had been through four drafts, and after two years of struggle he was hugely relieved to have it finished. 'I tell you I've written a great book,' DH Lawrence informed his publisher Edward Garnett, after sending him the manuscript of Sons and Lovers in November 1912.

Sons and lovers miriam