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BOOK REVIEWS texts for reading the reviews. Given the rich content, this is a volume that all academic libraries need to own. Ultimately, this first-rate collection demonstrates that part of Eliot's legacy was his ability to bring out both the best and worst in his critics. In some instances, the readings are dogmatic or the complaints unimaginative. Usually, however, the enormity of Eliot's reputation and the power of his work forced critics to make sure that they were up to the task of evaluating both. RICHARD BADENHAUSEN __________________ Westminster College Lawrence's Late Essays &> Articles D. H. Lawrence. Late Essays and Articles. James T. Boulton, ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. xxxvii + 425 pp. $100.00 WITH THIS intelligently conceived and accessibly organized volume edited by James T. Boulton, Late Essays and Articles, Cambridge University Press adds an invaluable collection of short and long pieces of nonfictional prose by D. H. Lawrence to its already impressive and abundant list of uniform and authoritative editions of his work. Put simply , this volume easily demonstrates an essential truth about Lawrence 's versatile talent that his critics and aficionados have understood for years: in addition to Lawrence's world-class contributions as an artist in the genres of poetry, short story, novella, novel, drama, and criticism , he remains a brilliant essayist and journalist; this lively anthology brings together pieces composed by him between 1926 and his death in 1930, including such major essays as "Pornography and Obscenity" and "Introduction to These Paintings," a group of autobiographical portraits, and the various newspaper items that a money-strapped Lawrence willingly wrote at the urging of several helpful agents, acquaintances, and editors. Of the thirty-nine articles in this volume, all but four derive from original manuscripts; seven of the essays were not published in Lawrence's lifetime, and two important personal pieces, "Getting On" and "Which Class I Belong To," are published here for the first time. All the essays are meticulously edited by Boulton, and each is preceded by a helpful account of the circumstances of its composition and publication. As is always the case in the Cambridge series, the "Explanatory Notes" section at the back of the book is admirable for its wealth of referential insights and its comprehensive and balanced understanding of Lawrence as man and as writer. 375 ELT 48 : 3 2005 As the editor indicates in his excellent introduction, Lawrence's primary means of publishing in the press "during the last four years of his life was through the London Office of his literary agent, Curtis Brown." In that office it was the devoted Nancy Pearn, an energetic woman, "who handled the placing of all his articles, negotiating his fees with editors —applying pressure to obtain higher payment whenever possible —and either warning or flattering Lawrence himself in order to improve or sustain contacts with influential editors." It is in this sense that Boulton effects a notable grace and excitement in the volume's framing organization—an achievement he modestly does not mention but one that I regard as a considerable bonus in the work. That is, beginning in the introduction and moving through each of the short prefaces to the respective essays, we follow the intriguing development of Lawrence 's relationship with Pearn and his publishers, of his direct and indirect negotiations with editors as intermediaries, and of his attitude toward the vocation of writing and the problematics of his legacy. In effect —and in welcome addition to the provocative nature of the essays themselves—we are witness to a nicely focused, bio-vocational picture of a still-creative Lawrence in the last years of his embattled life; this history is replete with pertinent quotations from relevant letters and documented incidents that illuminate the preoccupations of an increasingly ill and still-committed artist as he undertakes a wide range of writing assignments. The essays are wisely arranged chronologically rather than thematically, and such a linear organization permits an often poignant story to unfold about Lawrence's consistent professionalism, adamant self-discipline, and unwavering courage. If there is a single thematic element that integrates the essays, it must be Lawrence's emphasis on the wisdom inherent...

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