The Hidden D. H. Lawrence

The Hidden D. H. Lawrence is a new study of the psychological and literary aspects of a great writer's lyrical genius.

The Hidden D. H. Lawrence is a new study of the psychological and literary aspects of a great writer's lyrical genius. It explores how Lawrence, when writing on his favorite subject, the relations between men and women, moved so quickly between heavy-handed exposition and deeply inspired prose, depending on the gender of the object of his attention. Nowhere is this clearer than in the three grand love scenes from Lady Chatterley's Lover, those cut from the first American edition of 1932. In these scenes, Mellors, Lawrence's usual alter ego, suddenly and almost magically becomes the object of attention, although now seen through the eyes of his female protagonist. It may seem as if Lawrence's purpose here is to probe a woman's psyche, until one realizes that it is only such moments-when his focus seems less on his female character than the erotic allure of a powerful man-that unlock Lawrence's lyrical genius. The claim here is that in his major novels and stories, Lawrence was less interested in exploring the emotional lives of women than in using his female characters (as well as many sensitive male protagonists) to explore his own psychic life, one marked by the persistent attraction to the image of a strong male-an inner life that for the last century has been hiding in plain sight.

Autorentext

Myron Tuman, with a PhD in Victorian literature from Tulane University, taught at universities in West Virginia, Alabama, and Louisiana. Since 2006, he has published a series of literary studies of major writers and the psychic strains of family life: Melville's Gay Father, on men and their sons; Don Juan and His Daughter, on women and their fathers; The Sensitive Son, on men and their mothers; and The Stuttering Son, on men and their fathers.

Inhalt

1. Introduction-A Writer's "Winter" Thoughts 2. Lady Chatterley's Hidden Lover

   A "Tender" Lover or a Reluctant One?

   The Two Mellors-As Subject and Object

   A Tale of Two Bodies

   The Two Mellors, Continued

   On Sodomy-A Coda

3. Adolescence-Angst and Exuberance

   The Great Friend of His Youth

   "But the Water Loves Me"

   "Life ... Full of Glamour for Us Both"

   The Climax and Its Aftermath

   Happy Days-A Coda

4. The Other Three Women

   "Clara Dawes"-Lawrence's First Adult Relationship

   Frieda Weekley-First Impressions

   Frieda Weekley-The "Honeymoon"

   Rosalind Baynes-Lawrence's Final Partner?

5. Greiffenhagen's Shepherd

   A Passionate Embrace

   Demon Lovers-Men and Other Beasts

   His Fearsome Father

   "Under the Colliery Railway"-Being Kissed by a Miner

6. Man-to-Man

   Wrestling with Desire-Women in Love

   "Noli Me Tangere"-Curtailed Desire in Three Stories

   Two Gay Men in Lawrence's Life-Maurice Magnus and Walt Whitman

   The Limits of Friendship

7. Hiding in Plain Sight-Five Stories about Women

   A Time in the "Sun"

   The Ladybird-A Dream of Coming Out

   The Fox-Desire and Its Aftermath

   "The Princess"-The Fear of Being Touched

   "The Woman Who Rode Away"-No Turning Back

8. His Father's Body

   "Odour of Chrysanthemums"

   In Italy, Dreaming of Men

9. In Australia-Man Alone