D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study

by Anaïs Nin

In 1932, two years after D. H. Lawrence’s death, a young woman wrote a book about him and presented it to a Paris publisher. She recorded the event in her “It will not be published and out by tomorrow, which is what a writer would like when the book is hot out of the oven, when it is alive within oneself. He gave it to his assistant to revise.” The woman was Anaïs Nin. Nin examined Lawrence’s poetry, novels, essays, and travel writing. She analyzed and explained the more important philosophical concepts contained in his writings, particularly the themes of love, death, and religion, as well as his attention to primitivism and to women. But what Anaïs Nin brought to the explication of Lawrence’s writing was an understanding of the fusion of imaginative, intuitive, and intellectual elements from which he drew his characters, themes, imagery and symbolism.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Literature, Criticism

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Writer and diarist, born in Paris to a Catalan father and a Danish mother, Anaïs Nin spent many of her early years with Cuban relatives. Later a naturalized American citizen, she lived and worked in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Author of avant-garde novels in the French surrealistic style and collections of erotica, she is best known for her life and times in The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volumes I-VII (1966-1980).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%...

Reviews

[Khush · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the title says this book is an 'unprofessional' study on Lawrence. This might be so but it is a passionate and seminal work on Lawrence. Nin writes about different aspects of Lawrence works, his key ideas and how they play out in his novels and poems. She claims that Lawrence is the first author who knew women so well, and in fact wrote like a woman. Commenting on Lawrence's writing, she says that his is not an intellectual approach but an instinctive and intuitive one. One understands his work fully not by the exercise of one faculty; there must be a threefold desire of intellect, of imagination and of the physical feeling– to see and experience with 'the soul and the body.' In the words of Nin, Lawrence's philosophy is not merely an intellectual edifice; it is in fact realized ''as as passionate blood experience.''

My own experience of reading Lawrence intrigued me as a young schoolboy. While I was still in school, I read Lawrence 'Sons and Lovers.' The book is about a young sensitive boy who struggles to find balance between his love for his mother and his love for a young girl. How this character is written and what torments him makes him a unique figure. I could identify with his sensibility and what pained him, even though I did not have a girlfriend, nor was my mother over possessive. The novel was about sons as 'lovers', lovers of 'women', but it was also about love for ''something else''– possibly other men. My distinct impression of the protagonist was of someone who wanted to belong, but somehow it was impossible– his torment was infectious. The family and the outer world seem to regulate him. As a consequence, he suffers in an unusual way. Breaking off from known ways of being, only leads to unknown territories– the unknown with it strangeness may not be an easy space to inhabit.

In the book, Nin refers to his various novels. One does not have to read the novels in order to understand this book. In one chapter on language, Nin points out that Lawrence does not attribute human feeling to animals as sentimental poets have been in the habit of doing, but the feelings he conceives to be their own, and which have little or no connection with ours. For instance, Nin cites one Lawrence's poem through which we enter the world of fish.

''Aqueous, subaqueaous,
Submerged
And wave thrilled.

As the waters roll

Roll you.
The waters wash,
You wash in oneness

And never emerge.

Never know,
Never grasp.

Your life is a sluice of sensation along your sides,
A flush at the flails of your fins, down the whorl of your tail,
And water wetly on fire in the grates of your gills;
Fixed water eyes.''

It could really be an interesting book for those who have already read Lawrence and might want to reread him and see a fresher perspective on him through the eyes of another terrific writer. However, the book can also be used as an introduction to Lawrence by those who are not familiar with his work. And believe me, you will not regret it.

[Paul Gleason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nin's book provides a solid and passionately poetic introduction to Lawrence. She cuts to the core of his work and doesn't bear any of the prejudices against DHL novels known only to specialists - books like Twilight in Italy, The Lost Girl, and Kangaroo - and explores their merits. Also, without providing any direct comparisons to other modernist authors (except Proust), she reveals the innovations and experimental nature of DHL's prose style and philosophy. I'd recommend Nin's book to any new reader of DHL - and to any veteran who wants a reminder of the challenge of D.H. Lawrence.

[Cherie · Rating 2 out of 5]

B If you are hoping to get some valuable criticism for your Lawrence paper, you won't find it here. What you will find is a different view of Lawrence--Nin's commentary in a flowing fashion, full of interesting tidbits. Recommended for Nin and Lawrence fans.

[August · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well known quote (below) is quite poignant in context from Anais Nin's study on DH Lawrence. This is one of the earlier works from Nin. I read this not too long after reading Lawrence's, "Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious" from 1921. Both works seem to compliment each other in sense of a similar nonfiction writing style. It's a great break from some of the stale texts and bios.

"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death."

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would have behooved me to read more of Lawrence's work prior to reading this. However, it was still quite a nice analysis by Anaïs.

[Valerie Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

thrilling to read it cover to cover like a cupcake. i am a thorough nin nut. i also enjoyed her excerpts of lawrence & her pure admiration. reads a bit like school essay, but her young earnestness is adorable.

[Rehan Qayoom]

'Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.'

[Chris Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nin certainly has read her Lawrence, but her hagiography seems shaky. Trying to create a usable ideology through fiction is a whole lot tougher than saying, "S/he held true to their beliefs." This search for authenticity is fine for dilettantes and lower upper class scions striving for middle class acceptance. Nin has tried to explain his motives and does so quite admirably, but coming for the same milieu, perhaps some distance would have helped. I would recommend this book to people who are going to read Lawrence, as it is a struggle without some insight. One thing she points out is his racism for dark skinned people. Ramon being the violent protagonist in one book. His differing view from Huxley on the Indians. And, of course, the bathroom windows at Mabel's receive no attention, when I believe they are the key to understanding his character.

[Ursula Hemard-teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s only 100 pages of which a third are quotes from Lawrence’s books. She does repeat herself imho, or, she rephrases Lawrence’s ‘physicality of feeling’ which, I agree, is quintessential Lawrence. However, I’m not quite sure if I agree with all her analysis completely, especially the Freudian connections seem nowadays a tad outdated … imho. But then again I’m biased, as I’m not a big fan 1920s psychoanalysis 😅.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is only a little over a hundred pages and about half of it is direct quotes from Lawrence's writing. It doesn't help her case that she uses italics for emphasis usually several times per page. Despite its naive quality, it did make me appreciate some things about Lawrence's writing that I might not otherwise have seen.

[Mighty Aphrodite · Rating 5 out of 5]

In un libricino piccolo, ma molto denso, Anais Nin ci conduce all’interno del mondo letterario, filosofico e psicologico di uno degli autori più controversi del Novecento: D.H. Lawrence. In uno studio che la stessa Nin definisce “non accademico”, la scrittrice americana crea un percorso composto da capitoli tematici, brevi, ma rutilanti.

Continua a leggere: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...

[Z.H. LeNoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nin waxes on in romantic fashion about the sensual world of D.H. Lawrence. It is obvious his work greatly influenced Nin's erotic female mind. I used this heavily in my Final British Literature Essay as a source of great quotes.
I will definitely be reading more of Delta of Venus and her other erotic works.

[Stella Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anais Nin definitely did a thorough job explaining Lawrence works, writing style, philosophy etc. I would highly recommend this if you're rly interested in Lawrence's works and his opinions about life.