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Women in Love ()


Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (49)

LOVE
Main Entry: love
Pronunciation: 'l&v
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English lufu; akin to Old High German luba love, Old
English lEof dear, Latin lubEre, libEre to please
Date: before 12th century
1 a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a
child> (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection
based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests <love for his old schoolmates> b : an
assurance of love <give her my love>
2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion <love of the sea>
3 a : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration <baseball was his first love> b (1) : a
beloved person : DARLING -- often used as a term of endearment (2) British -- used as an informal
term of address
4 a : unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1) : the fatherly concern of
God for humankind (2) : brotherly concern for others b : a person's adoration of God

PASSION
Main Entry: pas·sion
Pronunciation: 'pa-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin passion-, passio suffering, being
acted upon, from Latin pati to suffer -- more at PATIENT
Date: 13th century
1 often capitalized a : the sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and his death
b : an oratorio based on a gospel narrative of the Passion
2 obsolete : SUFFERING
3 : the state or capacity of being acted on by external agents or forces
4 a (1) : EMOTION <his ruling passion is greed> (2) plural : the emotions as distinguished from reason b : intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction c : an outbreak of anger

The essential project of the Romantic Movement and the Left in the past 100 or more years, perhaps best expressed in the novels of Lawrence, is to replace Love with Passion.  Love you see is a mutual thing.  It requires interrelations and bonds which are anathema to the wholly nihilistic, individualistic and selfish intellectual elites of the Modern era.  What in the end does Freudianism consist of, other than an attack on the foundations of the family?

Passion on the other hand, requires nothing from anyone other than the individual.  It does not require that the object of one's desires reciprocate.  The individual, whole in himself, can experience passion.

Lawrence, in these novels and others, tried to explore new alternatives to the traditional Western structures of marriage, family and Christianity.  He hoped to recreate humans and human relations in new forms, unbound by tradition and reason.

It is for this fundamental attack on the great accomplishments of Western Civilization that his books should have been banned, not because of some wildly melodramatic sex scenes in the haystacks.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (F)


Websites:

D.H. Lawrence Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: D. H. Lawrence
    -PODCAST: D. H. Lawrence in flames: A new biography of D. H. Lawrence, "the most judged writer of his age" (TLS, 5/27/21)
    -
   
-ESSAY: Pleasure Island: DH Lawrence on Capri (Jeffrey Meyers, 9/03/23, The Article)
    -ESSAY: The Gospel according to DH Lawrence: If we could resurrect DH Lawrence, what would he make of spiritual belief today? (ZACHARY HARDMAN, 8/29/23, Engelsberg Ideas)
    -ESSAY: Lady Chatterley isn’t sexy: D.H. Lawrence didn't champion the Sexual Revolution (NICHOLAS HARRIS, 12/08/22, UnHerd)
    -ESSAY: The D. H. Lawrence We Forgot: Lawrence became famous writing novels about sex. But his best stories—and his most profound achievements—reside elsewhere (Frances Wilson, The New Yorker)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: The Arch-Heretic: ‘The Bad Side of Books’ (George Scialabba, October 10, 2020, Commonweal)
    -ESSAY: D.H. Lawrence Against The Machine: In Lawrence’s poetry, we catch a glimpse of how exactly the lordship of the machine is instituted: not with guns at the door, but on the altar of our worship. (Micah Paul Veillon, June 17, 2023, European Conservative)
    -
   
-ESSAY: Up close and dangerous: the irresistible allure of DH Lawrence: For decades he was wildly out of fashion, now DH Lawrence is everywhere – from novels and biographies to a new adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Lara Feigel, 30 Aug 2021, The Guardian)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: The D. H. Lawrence We Forgot: Lawrence became famous writing novels about sex. But his best stories—and his most profound achievements—reside elsewhere (Frances Wilson, October 8, 2020, The New Yorker)
    -REVIEW: of Burning Man: The Ascent of D H Lawrence By Frances Wilson (David Wheatley, Literary Review)
    -REVIEW: of Burning MKan< (DJ Taylor, WSJ)
    -REVIEW: of Burning Man (Lara Feigel, New Republic)
    -REVIEW: of Burning Man (Daphne Merkin, BookForum)
    -REVIEW: of Burning Man (Troy Jollimore, Washington Post)
    -REVIEW: of Burning Man (Kathryn Hughes, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of ook! We Have Come Through! by Lara Feigel (Paul Dean, The Critic)
    -
   
-

Book-related and General Links:
   
-DH Lawrence
    -Literary Research Guide: D(avid) H(erbert) Lawrence (1885 - 1930 )
    -The Taming of D. H. Lawrence (J. M. COETZEE in NY Review of Books)

Comments:

he wasn't trying to create new forms of relationships...he portrayed them as they exist...as they have for a very long time...whether one realizes it or not that's another issue. and he argued FOR reason: what is this book but an arena for the continual battle of whits between all the lovers involved. one of the modernisms prevailing tenets is it's anti-dehumanization... exemplified in the industrialist-like gerald crich. progress is fine but not if it doesn't bring along the evolution of the soul. anyway, in one way yer right: lawrence's very sensibility is incriminating towards western culture. and for good reason. the state of the environment more than underscores this. to sum up i'd say this.....dh lawrence is compassionate and fearless; i think that it may be difficult to see this when the one who reads him lacks these same qualities.

- jeff mooridian, jr

- Mar-09-2007, 09:18

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Astonishing really that you could come out of Women in Love feeling that Lawrence would want to create or recreate anything. It was the controlling aspects of Gerald that Birkin (aka Lawrence) seemed to loathe and which ultimately resulted in tragedy.

http://subtextwhore.co.uk

- Subtext Whore

- Sep-07-2004, 14:15

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You read novels in order to confirm what you know. I really don't like you.

- Heath

- Jul-04-2003, 04:21

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"It is for this fundamental attack on the great accomplishments of Western Civilization that his books should have been banned, not because of some wildly melodramatic sex scenes in the haystacks."

This statement reveals more than anything I've read on your site that you'd be much happier in a different time in history. Say, a beaurocrat who happily pulled the trigger on his father and raped his mother before slitting her throat to earn his party cred in Stalinist Russia. Pure totalitarian drivel, comrade. Sincerely, Mike

- Mike Lee

- Apr-11-2003, 18:53

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