Reflection on the Death of a Porcupine

Book excerpt: This collection of essays by the author of Lady Chatterley’s Loverpresents his musings on literature, politics and philosophy in a newly restored text. Though D. H. Lawrence was one of the great writers of the twentieth century, his works were severely corrupted by the stringent house-styling of printers and the intrusive editing of timid publishers. A team of scholars at Cambridge University Press has worked for more than thirty years to restore the definitive texts of D. H. Lawrence in The Cambridge Editions. Between 1915–1925, D. H. Lawrence wrote a series of “philosophicalish” essays covering topics ranging from politics to nature, and from religion to education. Varying in tone from lighthearted humor to spiritual meditation, they all share the underlying themes of Lawrence’s mature work: “Be thyself.” As far as possible, the editors of the Cambridge Editions series have restored these essays to their original form as Lawrence wrote them. A discussion of the history of each essay is provided, and several incomplete and unpublished essays are reproduced in an appendix.