The Escaped Cock

I wrote a story of the Resurrection, where Jesus gets up and feels very sick about everything, and can’t stand the old crowd any more… ‘I am risen!’ First published in 1929, The Escaped Cock – or, as it was published against Lawrence’s will upon his death, The Man Who Died – is the final novel by one of the best-loved English writers of the twentieth century. Written shortly after a 1927 expedition to an Etruscan tomb, on the surface this is a sensual and thought-provoking recasting of the Resurrection, in which Jesus survives his crucifixion – but when the surface is scratched there’s so much more going on beneath… The intervening years have seen a revived interest in the identity and enigmatic sexuality of the man behind the pen, and this fresh edition, paired with the art of Aubrey Beardsley – a fellow misunderstood artist and enemy of the censor’s office – invites the modern reader to meet Lawrence’s fascinating final novel on its own terms.