D.H. Lawrence: New Worlds Edited by Keith Cushman and Earl G. Ingersoll
BOOK REVIEWS
Lawrence scholars will know the work of most contributors to this richly documented collection of 14 critical essays. Representing six countries, the authors ably demonstrate the geographical scope of Lawrence’s importance. The “new worlds” of the title points to his experience outside of England and Europe, and, metaphorically, to the inner world of his psyche, often a realm of conflict and contradiction. Peter Preston discusses Lawrence’s impact on recent British fiction and lists 75 works of fiction published since 1958 that contain references to him. There follow essays on Lawrence’s attitude toward Jews (Judith Ruderman), his friendship with the Danish artist Knud Merrild (Cushman), and his changing prose style (Michael Squires) and treatments of some individual works: Sons and Lovers (Gavriel Reisner), Amours (Holly Laird), Women in Love (Kyoko Kay Kondo), Kangaroo (Neil Roberts), and Lady Chatterly’s Lover (Ginette Katz-Roy). Jack Steward reassesses Lawrence’s travel writing, and Virginia Hyde, Carrie Rohman, Laurie McCollum, and John Worthen examine works generated by his experiences in Mexico and the American Southwest. Lawrence, one now sees, was a multiculturalist avant la lettre and can be defended against negative criticism. Summing up: Recommended. Upper division undergraduates through faculty. —M.S. Vogeler, Choice, November 2003 In their introduction Cushman and Ingersoll tell of a letter Lawrence once wrote, describing his ideal artist as "'in the crowd, kicking their shins, or cheering them onto some mischief and merriment.'" He adds, "'Whoever reads me will be in the thick of the scrimmage, and if he doesn't like it--if he wants a safe seat in the audience--let him read somebody else.'" For Lawrence, literature must be challenging, exciting, and even dangerous for both author and reader. The essays in this collection show Lawrence taking his readers into the thick of the scrimmage as his critics bring us into new worlds of understanding and appreciation. The essays highlight Lawrences's "new worlds" in three senses. First, they take us into the literal New World he writes about in Kangaroo, "The Woman Who Rode Away," Quetzalcoatl, The Plumed Serpent, and "Altitude." For example, Laurie McCollum's essay on "The Woman Who Rode Away" reads the story in light of the theories of the anthropologist René Girard, recuperating it as a tale of sacrifice and Lawrence's firt attempt to restore woman to her central position in Western culture. In a second sense, the essays explore "inner new worlds." For instance, Gavriel Reisner reads Sons and Lovers from a Lacanian perspective, making new insights into the relationship between Paul and his mother. Finally, the collection invites readers to see the new worlds offered by new critical methodologies. Ginette Katz Roy, for example, deconstructs the mythological underpinnings of Lady Chatterley's Lover while Virgina Hyde reads The Plumed Serpent in the context of postcolonialism and multiculturalism. English Literature in Transition To see a full description of this book, search our online database
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Photograph courtesy of Louise Dell-Bene Stahl © 2001