The Hidden D. H. Lawrence

Book excerpt: 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.