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Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays
This volume contains what Lawrence himself called "philosophicalish" essays written in the decade 1915-25. The topics range from politics to nature, from religion to education; the tone from lighthearted humor to mordant wit, to spiritual meditation. For all these contrasts, however, the essays share many of the underlying themes of the mature "Be thyself" could be the volume's motto. As far as possible, this edition restores what Lawrence wrote before typists, editors, and compositors made the extensive alterations that have been followed in all previous editions of the texts--on occasion entire passages removed by mistake or for reasons of censorship have been recovered. The introduction describes the genesis, textual history, and reception of the essays; notes offer help with allusions and other difficult points. Several incomplete and unpublished essays are reproduced in an appendix.
552 pages, Paperback
First published December 19, 1987
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About the author
D.H. Lawrence
2,084 books4,189 followersDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism, and personal letters. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, human sexuality and instinct.
Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage." At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, the influential Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness, placing much of Lawrence's fiction within the canonical "great tradition" of the English novel. He is now generally valued as a visionary thinker and a significant representative of modernism in English literature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.H._Law...
Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage." At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, the influential Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness, placing much of Lawrence's fiction within the canonical "great tradition" of the English novel. He is now generally valued as a visionary thinker and a significant representative of modernism in English literature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.H._Law...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 22, 2011
A book I picked up for just a couple of pounds and oh my, was it worth the money. This book had me laughing out loud while simultaneously mentally righting the wrongs of the world all while walking down the street trying to dodge lamp posts because i simply couldn't put this book down.
In some sections Lawrence clearly rants and though I may not completely agree with his 'thesis' on the fact that Tolstoy is a philandering victim of assuming that man is absolute I can most certainly giggle at the idea that a person who has submerged himself in the literary world can still see through the pomposity that may surround it.
Lawrence is never scared to write exactly what he thinks and display his ideology toward a whole range of subject matters swaying between humor and serious philisophicalish meanderings.
The book is a series of short essays. The longest being a hundred pages the shortest being twenty.
Get a copy of this book, keep it in your back pocket and whenever another book is stifling, boring, pretentious or just too big to carry then whip this little number out and give it a bash. There will be smiles and whirring cogs abound. I hope.
In some sections Lawrence clearly rants and though I may not completely agree with his 'thesis' on the fact that Tolstoy is a philandering victim of assuming that man is absolute I can most certainly giggle at the idea that a person who has submerged himself in the literary world can still see through the pomposity that may surround it.
Lawrence is never scared to write exactly what he thinks and display his ideology toward a whole range of subject matters swaying between humor and serious philisophicalish meanderings.
The book is a series of short essays. The longest being a hundred pages the shortest being twenty.
Get a copy of this book, keep it in your back pocket and whenever another book is stifling, boring, pretentious or just too big to carry then whip this little number out and give it a bash. There will be smiles and whirring cogs abound. I hope.
Displaying 1 of 1 review