Two Studies of D. H. Lawrence

122 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY TWO STUDIES OF D. H. LAWRENCE* HERBERT DAVIS Most of the books about D. H. Lawrence have been written by his closest friends, whose relation,ship with him we know, whether they became afterwards disciples or enemies. These are different. One is written by a biographer, with the pseudonym Hugh Kingsmill" who has formerly given us studies of Matthew Arnold, Frank Harris, and Samuel Johnson; the other is a critical essay on the work of Lawrence by Professor Paul de Reul of the University of Brussels, who has been chiefly concerned with extensive studies of Swinburne and Browning. Both rely for their material on Lawrence's own writings, his correspondence, and the memoirs which have appeared since his death. ,Hugh Kingsmill's book seems to have been mainly prompted by an active dislike of the personality and the art of Lawrence; or it may be regarded as an attack upon the Lawrence cult. It is a rapid and effective account of the romantic or pathetic comedy> in which Lawrence and his friends had their parts-a curious mixed company held together by their inexplicable and constantly varying relationships with this strange central figure, who seems on the evidence provided here to have been an ill-balanced and dangerous prophet, and a troublesome if not objectionable person. If we had never read them, we should get the impression that his writings were a mass of fustian and wordy romantic nonsense, except for an occasional bit of fun, a surprisingly vivid passage of description, or a scrap of convincing dialogue. The force and intensity of his work, the abounding vitality which prevents even his most extravagant rhetoric and his annoying repetitions .from becoming empty and dull, the ability to put into his words so recklessly and carelessly the whole of himself, his pettiness as well as his greatness, rus crude gropings as well as his imaginative perceptions , his rough arrogance as well as his charm-all the richness, the splendour, the energy of his work is neither illustrated nor admitted. This is not altogether due to any unfairness or bias in Hugh *D. H. Lawrence, by Hugh Kingsmill, Methuen, 1938, $3.50. L'Oeuvre de D. H. Lawrence, _p.ar .Paul de Reul, Librairie philosophique. Paris, J. Vrin, 1937, 25jr. 122 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY TWO STUDIES OF D. H. LAWRENCE* HERBERT DAVIS Most of the books about D. H. Lawrence have been written by his closest friends, whose relation,ship with him we know, whether they became afterwards disciples or enemies. These are different. One is written by a biographer, with the pseudonym Hugh Kingsmill" who has formerly given us studies of Matthew Arnold, Frank Harris, and Samuel Johnson; the other is a critical essay on the work of Lawrence by Professor Paul de Reul of the University of Brussels, who has been chiefly concerned with extensive studies of Swinburne and Browning. Both rely for their material on Lawrence's own writings, his correspondence, and the memoirs which have appeared since his death. ,Hugh Kingsmill's book seems to have been mainly prompted by an active dislike of the personality and the art of Lawrence; or it may be regarded as an attack upon the Lawrence cult. It is a rapid and effective account of the romantic or pathetic comedy> in which Lawrence and his friends had their parts-a curious mixed company held together by their inexplicable and constantly varying relationships with this strange central figure, who seems on the evidence provided here to have been an ill-balanced and dangerous prophet, and a troublesome if not objectionable person. If we had never read them, we should get the impression that his writings were a mass of fustian and wordy romantic nonsense, except for an occasional bit of fun, a surprisingly vivid passage of description, or a scrap of convincing dialogue. The force and intensity of his work, the abounding vitality which prevents even his most extravagant rhetoric and his annoying repetitions .from becoming empty and dull, the ability to put into his words so recklessly and carelessly the whole of himself, his pettiness as well as his greatness, rus crude gropings as...