Race and Identity in D. H. Lawrence

Race and Identity in D. H. Lawrence is a wide-ranging examination of Lawrence's adoption and adaptation of stereotypes about minorities, with a focus on three particular 'racial' groups. This book explores societal attitudes in England, Europe, and the United States and Lawrence's utilization of cultural norms to explore his own identity.

'Judith Ruderman's book is a rare case of a cultural-historical approach informed by a subtle literary critical intelligence and a deep appreciation of Lawrence's art. She recognises the inconsistencies in his representations of Jews, Native Americans and Gypsies and, without whitewashing him, doesn't try to pin him down as a racist. She explores the inconsistencies as marks of a writer of his time trying to come to terms with an intense susceptibility to difference. In particular, she illuminates the way in which Lawrence's own position as an outsider drew him to identify even with groups against which he held prejudices.' Neil Roberts, University of Sheffield, UK

Autorentext
Judith Ruderman is Visiting Professor of English at Duke University, USA and retired Vice Provost. She is the author of three previous books and numerous essays in modern literature. She was the first female president of the D. H. Lawrence Society of North America and is a long-time member of the editorial board of the D. H. Lawrence Review.

Klappentext

With its focus on D. H. Lawrence's attitudes toward Indians, Gypsies, and Jews, Race and Identity in D. H. Lawrence examines how concepts about race are created and transmitted; how they are appropriated and sometimes transformed; and how individual and national identities relate to racial otherness. Setting Lawrence in his context(s) reveals how his personal circumstances combined with societal influences to shape his adoption and adaptation of stereotypes about minorities. His own ambivalent relationships with the racial other, and the ties between that ambivalence, his affiliation with 'Englishness', and his search for a better society, are at once revealing of his culture and particular to him as an individual. Lawrence's art tells 'the truth of the day', as he said good art does, but it also tells the truth of the artist, and of other days. His honesty on the subject, even if - even when - it offends, can inform and enliven our contemporary discussions of race and ethnicity.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: D. H. Lawrence and the Racial Other 2. Lawrence and the 'Jewish Problem': Reflections on a Self-Confessed 'Hebrophobe' 3. An 'Englishman at Heart'? Lawrence, the Jews, and the National Identity Debates 4. 'Doing a Zion stunt': Lawrence in his Land(s) of Milk and Honey 5. Lawrence and the Indian: Apprehending 'Culture' in the American Southwest 6. Lawrence's Caravan of Gypsy Identities 7. (Ad)dressing Identity: Clothing as Artifice and Authenticity 8. Cleanliness and Fitness: The Role of the Racial Other in Conceptions of Health 9. Conclusion: Crossing or Enforcing the Border: Purity, Hybridity, and the Concept of Race 10. Appendix: Race vs. Ethnicity: The Case of the Gypsies