D.H. Lawrence: A Biography by Jeffrey Meyers (Cooper
Square Press) Meyers, a prolific scholar, brings his superb gifts for research
and narrative to
D.H. Lawrence, a writer of comparable importance, whose life was driven
toward extremes of passion and violence. This full-scale, penetrating profile
traces a writer who alienated friends, fervidly explored sexuality, restlessly
traveled and refused to acknowledge the tuberculosis that claimed his life in
1930.
In
D.H. Lawrence Meyers does justice to the English novelist's celebrations of
human sexuality and his sometimes scandalous relationships. The author has been
enterprising in interviewing those aged survivors with first-hand contact with
Lawrence
. Perceptively written, Meyers presents a succinct and revealing account of
Lawrence
’s relationships with friends and lovers, bringing to life the disorderly
personalities that shaped
Lawrence
’s work. Meyers introduces a considerable amount of new material and probes the
connections between
Lawrence
’s writing and his interest in psychology – especially the theories of Freud and
Jung, which
Lawrence
fluently expounded upon in his letters to Katherine Mansfield.
Meyers splits
Lawrence
’s achievements in two contrasting halves, with his formative years spent in a
small mining village, and the second half of his life characteristically spent
moving from place to place. His childhood memories contributed greatly to Lady
Chatterly’s Lover, which confronted the rigid class structures of
England
and was banned for its explicit portrayal of sex between a gentlewoman and a
laborer. Meyers follows
Lawrence
’s journeys of his later years with his wife Frieda, as their marriage faltered,
his health worsened, and his writing became increasingly brilliant. Plagued by
illness for fifteen years until his death,
Lawrence
nevertheless produced a considerable body of work, the history of which is
revealed in
D.H. Lawrence.
Readers will relish the 16 pages of photographs, which are included.
This
masterly work offers an exciting recreation of the life and times of
the British novelist and is an indispensable companion to any
Lawrence
collection. We can only hope that this readable,
mass-market biography will generate new readers for
Lawrence
.
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