Amidst the clash between machine civilization and human instinct, what did D. H. Lawrence explore? His literature and life illuminate sex, love, and the essence of human existence.
As a novelist and poet celebrated across East and West, D. H. Lawrence stands as one of the 20th century’s most controversial writers. His literature was often misunderstood as either ‘erotic literature’ or ‘obscene literature,’ and indeed, his works were frequently the subject of public debate. A prime example is his final novel, ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover,’ which was banned in his native Britain for 32 years. It wasn’t until November 1960 that its artistic merit was recognized, and the obscenity charges were dismissed. And the reason he was considered a problematic writer is that while other writers of his time—such as Joyce, Eliot, Faulkner, or Huxley—also recognized the anxieties of modernity and sought new human relationships through unique literary forms, D. H. Lawrence, more than any of them, intuitively tackled the primal issues of human life.
To understand D. H. Lawrence’s ideas—his fierce rebellion against mechanized modern civilization, excessive worship of ideas, and outdated values, and his burning quest to find the source of new life—it seems essential first to know his life.
He was born on September 11, 1885, in Eastwood, a coal mining village northwest of the industrial city of Nottingham, England, to an uneducated miner father and a mother who was a former teacher and poet.
At that time, Eastwood was suffering the hardship of its beautiful mountains and rivers and simple farmhouses being destroyed and demolished by the coal miners. In other words, his childhood was shaped by the chaos of so-called industrialism clashing with the long-cherished beauty of the countryside.
And, as mentioned earlier, he grew up between his instinctive, alcoholic father and his elegant, intellectual mother, becoming a mediator between these two extremes. Thus, in the works of D. H. Lawrence, who carried these opposing facets within him, we see these two sides either contrasting or harmonizing. They are the intellectual and gentle ‘light-self’ and the physical and demonic ‘dark-self’. This duality may be what makes him difficult to understand, but regardless, this ‘light-self’ and ‘dark-self’ appear countless times in any of his works. To delve deeper, these two aspects contrast and repeat, achieving a certain symbolic effect. Taking it a step further, they represent the rhythm of life itself: day and night, life and death, sleeping and waking.
If modern rationalism and mechanized civilization defy such cosmic principles, humanity becomes utterly powerless and ultimately faces ruin. To be saved from this, the two entities must achieve harmony. In other words, humanity must recognize its counterpart and achieve the ideal union of spirit and flesh, of male and female. This is precisely the sublimation into spiritual-physical love through sexuality.
This theme of harmony sometimes manifested in autobiographical works based on his own life experiences, and sometimes in works depicting the realization of ideals. Generally, autobiographical novels were written during the earlier part of his creative period, with Sons and Lovers being the representative work. Later, works depicting the realization of ideals were written, with The Rainbow or Women in Love being representative examples.
In Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence’s anguish over inheriting extreme dualities from his parents is vividly expressed. Jessie Chambers, a childhood friend, appears in the novel as Miriam, revealing the complex relationship with his mother.
As mentioned earlier, this work stands as a representative example of his realistic, autobiographical novels that revive his experiences. Like most writers, he remained true to himself, but he particularly saw himself as part of nature, brimming with vitality.
He once reflected: “As my eye is part of me, so I am part of the sun. And the earth, which my feet tread, knows well that it is part of me, and my blood is part of the sea.” This signifies a praise for living beings untouched by the hand of modern civilization. It is noteworthy that within this work, flowers are also perceived as images of living entities.
After publishing Sons and Lovers, he publicly declared, “I will not write in this manner again.” Yet, by publishing The Rainbow in 1915—a work that stands as a representative novel of his later period—he began writing novels driven by ideological pursuit. A pivotal romantic event played a crucial role in shaping this shift.
He met Frieda, the wife of his former professor at Nottingham University, Professor Wickley, and mother of three daughters. She was four years older than D. H. Lawrence. They experienced a love affair that ignited at first sight. He believed he had discovered a woman of extraordinary vitality and soon eloped with her to Germany.
They returned to England in 1914 and formally married. Their dreamlike married life became the foundation for his works throughout his life; conversely, the dreams born from this reality manifested in his writing. Consequently, his post-marriage works were largely a pursuit of the ideal male-female relationship and sometimes an expression of his dreams.
Representative works from this period include ‘The Rainbow’ and its sequel, ‘Women in Love’. Despite tasting emotional disappointment in his relationship with Winifred or Skrevensky in the final scene of ‘The Rainbow’, Asher still gazes at ignorance while dreaming of a new paradise in a relationship between the sexes. This can be seen as a symbolic expression of her desire for the realization of an ideal relationship between men and women.
In any case, D. H. Lawrence stated in a letter in 1913, “My belief in flesh is my great religion. For flesh is deeper than intellect…” However, the life of two spouses, each with a strong sense of self, would have been a constant struggle, and the dream of finding harmony within that struggle likely emerged as his work.
During World War I, he was accused of espionage. After the war ended, he turned his back on his homeland forever and traveled through Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Ceylon, Australia, the United States, and Mexico, writing many works and travelogues.
D. H. Lawrence, the giant of the century who yearned for the union of living human beings while preserving his own ego to prevent becoming a slave to machine civilization, passed away on March 2, 1930, at the age of 45, in Vence, northern France, while battling his chronic illness, tuberculosis.
