The Escaped Cock

The Escaped Cock is a short novel by D. H. Lawrence that he originally wrote in two parts and published in 1929. Lawrence wrote the first part in 1927 after visiting some Etruscan tombs with his friend Earl Brewster, a trip that encouraged the author to reflect upon death and myths of resurrection. "The original short story version of Part I of the novel appeared in The Forum magazine, February 1928." Lawrence added the second part in 1928 during a stay in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Publication

The Black Sun Press first published The Escaped Cock as a limited edition in September 1929. Fifty copies were printed on Japanese vellum, signed by Lawrence and the copy number written in longhand by him, with decorations in color by the author. Critic Harry Moore considered the work to be the last of Lawrence's important prose fiction.

Origins

The Escaped Cock was always Lawrence's preferred title, but the tale has been printed under the title The Man Who Died by some later publishers. In February 1930, the dying Lawrence was negotiating about an unlimited edition with the London publisher, Charles Lahr. Lahr asked for the title to be changed to The Man Who Died and Lawrence eventually agreed, insisting that the original title should be retained as a subtitle. This projected Lahr edition failed to appear and the first English edition was eventually published by Martin Secker in September 1931 as The Man Who Died, a title never approved by the author.