D.H. Lawrence's Novels: A New Historical Approach

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In this book, the author analyses Lawrences ideas and visions in the perspective of New Historicism, and shows how these ideas and visions are useful to understand the world better and deeper. New Historicism as a critical practice draws on the earlier Marxist criticism, structuralism, feminist criticism and deconstruction. New historicists focus on the multiple and contradictory material practices interconnecting the historical events as contexts of production and reception. Since New Historicism stresses on the intimate relationship between literature, culture and history, there is a constant interaction of history, culture and ideology of the past with the present trends and situations. As a result, reading of texts of past is connected with the personal life history of the writer, the letters written by him to his contemporaries and his world views reflected in these marginal writings. An analysis of Lawrences letters and major novels reveals that contemporary man leads a life of falsity and negativity, and has lost his freshness as well as his rhythm by losing the vital contact with the motion of life, thereby turning into a working machine. He has come to this deadness because of his disconnection with the responsive vegetation of nature, the source of vitality for renewal of the body. In the context of such human conditions in our own civilization, a study of Lawrences works in the new historical perspective is a relevant and worthwhile pursuit. The social, political and cultural conditions prevailing in Lawrences time strongly influenced his artistic mind and creativity. The suicidal tendency of human beings to destroy each other through War (World War I) influenced his artistic vision quite significantly, which becomes explicit in his major works. D. H. Lawrence expresses the idea that man is living a lie, leading a life of falsity, negativity and deadness. The decline in human relationship is a current trend for mans excessive indulgence in money, power and machine. This trend can however be reversed only if man leads a life of spontaneity based on tenderness and sensitivity, and tries to revitalize a mechanically dead people in a rotten, dead civilization. The book explores some new areas of meaning in human psyche. It will be immensely useful to the students, teachers and researchers who are pursuing their studies in English literature in general, and on D.H. Lawrence and his major novels in particular.