The thesis explores the various aspects of the love death theme in the parent-child, man-man, and man-woman relationships in four of D. H. Lawrence's early novels: The White Peacock, Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, and Women in Love. However, before this theme can be examined, it is necessary to establish, in detail, what Lawrence considers to be the underlying cultural factor determining the destructiveness in the love relationships: the Christian teaching of self-denial. Christianity has led the individual to deny his Self, his distinct personality, his instinctive individuality. He becomes a "sacrificed," "selfless" creature. Lawrence sees modern industrialism, nationalism and education as secular extensions of Christianity: in all of them,the individual no longer counts. He becomes a mere unit in the great machinery of industrialism, in the impersonal institution of nationalism, and in the education system with its falsified Truths and "vulgar authority." A "dissociation of sensibility" has taken place. Individuals have lost the capacity to respond spontaneously with the "whole" man. They have become "not me" creatures. Because modern man has denied Selfhood, the love between man and woman, which should receive first place, is frequently replaced by parent-child love. The woman cannot love and respect the weak man with the destroyed Self. In her desperate attempt to find the fulfillment that she cannot find with her husband, she turns to her children. They become the substitute lovers to which she "sacrifices" herself. By turning to her children, she humiliates her husband and thus further destroys him, as well as herself. And the children, too, become "crippled" as the result of such a parent-child relationship they feel obligated to return the sacrificial love to the parent and thereby rob themselves of love that should find expression elsewhere. Not only does the weak man fail to maintain the love and respect of the woman, but also he frequently fails to establish a wholesome relationship with other men. According to Lawrence, a man must unite with other men for the "purposive, creative activity" of building a world. The weakling has no distinct Selfhood to bring to this man-to-man friendship. In the four novels examined, the love between the man and woman is usually destructive: a form of death occurs for either the man or woman, or both. Frequently they bring a destroyed Self to the relationship and a further destruction takes place. Occasionally, the destruction in the man-woman relationship is a purgation through which the individual becomes free; through destruction he experiences are birth to a capacity for a new, spontaneous love. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

That one narrows the critically popular quest theme to one of wholeness does not axiomatically assure a tapered, pertinent monograph. For that reason I have taken some care to construct my approach to D. H. Lawrence's shorter fiction with three chapters which canalize Setting, Structure, and Imagery toward this quest for wholeness. And to attenuate further, the three essays which connect with each of these are titled "Landscape and Point of View," "The Whole Story," and "Triangle Versus the Individual Consciousness." In the case of the first and last, I use two of Lawrence's own essays to kindle the examinations of certain short stories and novellas. Chapter I endeavors to relate the apparent influence of post-Impressionist painting on the writer's creation of landscape, and to illustrate how closely point of view allies itself with setting in the character quest for wholeness. The third chapter recognizes the difference between structural and concrete Imagery, then uses the triangle image as an example of the first kind to show how this image remains antithetical to Lawrence's idea of the individual consciousness—for him the epitome of wholeness. The middle chapter attempts to locate a unique contribution by Lawrence to the short story art of the twentieth century, and to demonstrate successful and unsuccessful quests by characters who attain archetypal scope which lifts them beyond the more naturalistic figures in the author's other shorter fiction. Of course, character success or lack of it in the search for wholeness remains the purpose in the discussion of each story, regardless of chapter. And what the Introduction does, in part, is define the nature of that wholeness as relates to Lawrence's polemic essays; for the rest, it reviews evaluation of the shorter fiction by the critics. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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Lawrence's work has almost invevitably been read as an aesthetic production whereby one must eventually agree or disagree with his vision of "reality". Those who assume a formalist standard of taste often find that Lawrence "loses control" of his material; those who offer ideological apologies for his work argue that disruptions in the aesthetic plane are representative of an exploratory genius, often seen as the outstanding characteristic of literary modernism. Both approaches, explicitly or otherwise , rely on the ultimate sanction of the achieved image, transmuted by the author always in control of his material. Yet anyone who reads Lawrence with an eye to to what the "tale" says in addition to what the "teller" claims discovers that Lawrence is not in full control of his material, thought it cannot simply be argued, on aesthetic or linguistic criteria, that he is out of control. Rather, there exists a "third" state whereby Lawrence both writes and is written, gives us a message with one hand, yet retracts, as it were, with the other. Because this double-move is preeminently suited to the language of fiction, and because it appears in Lawrence's fiction with the greatest versatility and incisiveness, this dissertation analyzes six of his novels for their rhetorical significance, understood as both an organization of tropes and figures and as a system of persuasive doctrine. A new definition for allegory is proposed, the introductions of thematic and structural "blanks" is examined, and a spread of narrative delays are identified and discussed, all concerned with the central problem of writing novels that direct themselves to the resurrection of a pre-linguistic universe, yet ironically depend more and more upon writing to bring this about. Ideas drawn from Continental philosophy and recent critical theory are incorporated for support and instruction. Attention is also focused on Lawrence's revision processes, often with specific emphasis on unpublished manuscript material.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Göteborg University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-241).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Göteborg University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-241).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-69).