These Things

When David Herbert Lawrence passed away on March 2, 1930, he was far away from Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, his hometown. He was on a savage pilgrimage, as he would refer to his voluntary exile, with his wife, Frieda Weekley. Those who were familiar with Lawrence's works would be reminded of Erasmus and Valerie Melville, the American couple in one of the author's short stories, who lived in France and Italy for years. They were the true idealists, wanting to recapture the Old World charm, only to end up disappointed and mulling for a new place to live. But Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence could also be Oliver Mellors and Constance Chatterley.

D.H. Lawrence had a prolific career, yet his writings were personal. And he never got tired of talking about politics, religion, and sex, in no particular order. Critics didn't notice the intellectual subtlety of his stories, but like him or hate him, the Englishman deserved his place in the pantheon dedicated to the literary gods.

A complicated optimist

"He was in Italy: he looked at the country with faint aversion. Not capable of much feeling any more, he had only a tinge of aversion as he saw the olives and the sea. A sort of poetic swindle."

- "Smile" (1928)

Eastwood was a former coal mining town, which expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution. Many inhabitants would be confronted with the sudden change in status - and values. Lawrence depicted it in "The Rainbow", a tale of the Brangwen family, three generations of farmers and craftsmen. Not a few noticed the sense of touch, only missing in a few chapters. It could be interpreted in a number of ways; the touch would represent the effect of industrialization on the community. It could pertained to humanity, of what became of it after the replacing of the Old World with the new one. Sex was another thing, albeit a complex one.

"Women in Love", the sequel to "The Rainbow", focused on Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen. Some couldn't helped but find the intellectual discussions of the sisters, with their lovers, quite insane. But one must not forget that Lawrence was writing about his complicated marriage with Frieda. The novel also explored the relationship between Rupert Birkin, a school inspector, and Gerald Crich, a coal-mine heir. Was it homoeroticism? Eastwood's most famous resident may be fascinated with homosexuality or he was an intellectual who was trying to figure out how he would fit in the cage.

Another delicate issue was the female characters in his stories. Some critics thought that Lawrence had a distorted view of male supremacy, which was illustrated in "Lady Chatterley's Lover". The novel was reissued in America, only to include those chapters that were deemed inappropriate. But not in Great Britain, where Penguin Books was facing trial under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. If the author were alive, he might've chuckled. He wanted to be free, even during his struggles.