Lorenzo: D.H. Lawrence and the Women Who Loved Him

by Emily Hahn

With his high, piping voice and fragile physique, D. H. Lawrence bore little resemblance to the strong, handsome protagonists of his fiction. Yet there was something about Lawrence — some indefinable but irresistibly seductive aura — that led women to fight over him, adore him, and even worship him. Throughout his life there was at least one woman, and frequently more than one, with whom he had a close, special, and often hectic relationship.

Emily Hahn has written a sparkling account of the enigmatic genius from a fresh viewpoint. She tells the fascinating story of Lawrence's obsession with his mother, even long after her death; of his tempestuous life with his wife, Frieda, his ideal "gushing woman"; and of his relationships with the many women who became his sweethearts, lovers, and confidantes both before and during his marriage...

An appraisal of an extraordinary man whose life was uniquely dominated by women and who, in turn, profoundly and permanently touched the lives of women.

367 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Emily "Mickey" Hahn was called "a forgotten American literary treasure" by The New Yorker magazine; she was the author of 52 books and more than 180 articles and stories. Her father was a hardware salesman and her mother a suffragette. She and her siblings were brought up to be independent and to think for themselves and she became the first woman to take a degree in mining engineering from the University of Wisconsin. She went on to study mineralogy at Columbia and anthropology at Oxford, working in between as an oil geologist, a teacher and a guide in New Mexico before she arrived in New York where she took up writing seriously. In 1935 she traveled to China for a short visit and ended up by staying nine years in the Far East. She loved living in Shanghai and met both Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai. She became the lover of Zau Sinmay, an intellectual, whom she particularly liked for his overwhelming curiosity about everything, she felt it rubbed off on her, and together they founded the English-language magazine Candid Comment. During her time in China she learned to smoke opium, persisting for two years until, inevitably, she became addicted; she was then cured by a hypnotist.

In Hong Kong Hahn met Major Charles R. Boxer, a married British intelligence officer; in 1940 she became pregnant and they had a daughter, Carola. Boxer was captured by the Japanese after being wounded in the attack on Hong Kong; Hahn visited him as much as possible in his prisoner-of-war camp, until she and Carola were repatriated to the United States in 1943. On his release they got married and in 1946 they arrived in Dorset where she called herself a "bad housewife". Although Boxer continued to live in England, where he became Professor of Portuguese at London University, Hahn lived mostly in America as a tax exile.

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily Hahn was a wonderful writer and a feminist ahead of her time. Her knowledge and insight on D. H. Lawrence is probably as good as we'll ever get.

Through Emily Hahn's clear and unblinking eyes I feel that I've met the man, talked with him, traveled with him, observed his shy charm that captivated so many women. And I like him somewhat less for it, though I admire his novels all the more.