The Plumed Serpent by D.H. Lawrence — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists Aug 16, 2012 Richard Lodge rated it liked it OK. It's a mad book, no doubt about it. It's full of ferocity and discontent. And it does seem to ask us to take its ideas about cults and gods and blood seriously. It has stupid notions about race. It is infected with a misanthropic disdain for most people. But it is also struggling with all this, fighting against these damaging instincts. It is rescued, as a book, by its ambivalences and self-questioning. It is also dramatic and powerful. It is a kind of challenge, a kind of poison, but it is OK. It's a mad book, no doubt about it. It's full of ferocity and discontent. And it does seem to ask us to take its ideas about cults and gods and blood seriously. It has stupid notions about race. It is infected with a misanthropic disdain for most people. But it is also struggling with all this, fighting against these damaging instincts. It is rescued, as a book, by its ambivalences and self-questioning. It is also dramatic and powerful.

It is a kind of challenge, a kind of poison, but it is something, not nothing, not a novel about petty, dull, self-important people. More a novel about grand, pompous, absurd, self-important creatures. I'm happy I've read it. I would not re-read it. ...more Jan 26, 2009 Typewriter rated it really liked it As a writer, Lawrence emits a sense of greatness, of towering above the ordinary and rendering nearly everyone else small-minded by comparison; this is thoroughly in keeping with the attitudes of this very Nietzschean novel. It is the intensity and passion of Lawrence's vision, complemented by astute acerbic insight, that makes him a giant. His stance does tower above more modern, more reasonable, more charitable ones. Do not dismiss him on account of his unpleasant conclusions. It's not what he As a writer, Lawrence emits a sense of greatness, of towering above the ordinary and rendering nearly everyone else small-minded by comparison; this is thoroughly in keeping with the attitudes of this very Nietzschean novel. It is the intensity and passion of Lawrence's vision, complemented by astute acerbic insight, that makes him a giant.

His stance does tower above more modern, more reasonable, more charitable ones. Do not dismiss him on account of his unpleasant conclusions. It's not what he believes in, it's how he believes in it that matters. Lawrence is not a slick storyteller, nor does he write with a consistently fluid style. Story, style and Lawrentian philosophy synthesise to produce true greatness at intermittent moments; elsewhere the going can be tough, but there's is always a latent sense of true power. Lawrence's almost relentless misanthropy almost gets too much, but his passion for a life - albeit as an abstract or unrealistic ideal - almost justifies it. By comparison to today's norms, it is perhaps his uncompromising high seriousness that ultimately most appeals. How he would loathe postmodernism. After a brilliant description of a bullfight in the first chapter, The Plumed Serpent seems to decline into a sour fictionalised travel memoir (of Mexico), but the plot gradually picks up again, from about a third of the way through.

I find Lawrence's short stories the most compelling, and I agree with the consensus that Sons And Lovers, The Rainbow and Women In Love are his greatest novels, but The Plumed Serpent is a powerful, memorable work by a most vital original master, with whom it is bracing to engage. ...more Shelves: big-white-square DH Lawrence takes a trip to Mishima Country! This was so crazy I just had to love it. It's about Kate, Irish widow, who is in Mexico and pretty much hating it and everyone in it. We open at a bullfight (Mishima loved a good matador!) where everything's a bit sad and unEuropean. Kate goes on to say lots of racist things about Mexicans. Which is a downer. But then she meets a local warlord, and then his warlord boyfriend (Mishima loved a man in uniform!), moves to a lakeside villa, and starts falli DH Lawrence takes a trip to Mishima Country! This was so crazy I just had to love it. It's about Kate, Irish widow, who is in Mexico and pretty much hating it and everyone in it.

We open at a bullfight (Mishima loved a good matador!) where everything's a bit sad and unEuropean. Kate goes on to say lots of racist things about Mexicans. Which is a downer. But then she meets a local warlord, and then his warlord boyfriend (Mishima loved a man in uniform!), moves to a lakeside villa, and starts falling in love with them and their unique brand of pagan fascism (Mishima loved fascism!). So crazy. The words "erect", "manhood" or "sperm" are on almost every page. No prizes for guessing what the plumed serpent represents. But Mexico seems really beautiful. And I'd love to know if Mishima read it. Mishima bits: "Cipriano was watching Ramon with black, guarded eyes, in which was an element of love, and of fear, and of trust, but also incomprehension, and the suspicion that goes with incomprehension." and "With Cipriano he was most sure. Cipriano and he, even when they embraced each other with passion, when they met after an absence, embraced in the recognition of each other's eternal and abiding loneliness; like the Morning Star.

But women would not have this. They wanted intimacy - and intimacy means disgust. Carlota wanted to be eternally and closely identified with Ramon, consequently she hated him and hated everything which she thought drew him away from this eternal close identification with herself. It was just a horror and he knew it." and "'When he comes, all you who strive shall find the second strength. And when you have it, where will you feel it? Not here!' - and he struck his forehead. 'Not where the cunning gringos have it, in the head, and in their books. Not we. We are men, we are not spiders. We shall have it here!' - he struck his breast - 'and here!' - he struck his belly - 'and here!' - he struck his loins." and "Ramon knelt and pressed his arms close round Cipriano's waist, pressing his black head against his side. And Cipriano began to feel as if his mind, his head were melting away in the darkness; like a pearl in black wine, the other circle of sleep began to swing, vast.

And he was a man without a head, moving like a dark wind over the face of the dark waters." and "She walked across the beach to the jetty, feeling the life surging vivid and resistant within her. 'It is sex,' she said to herself. 'How wonderful sex can be, when men keep it powerful and sacred, and it fills the world! Like sunshine through and through one!'" ...more Jul 20, 2014 Gregg Bell rated it it was amazing D.H. Lawrence came from a day and age when writing was self discovery. It was a way to find out who you were, a way to open up new worlds within yourself. And the people loved reading about it. You grasped a sense of a writer's psyche, his mind, his emotions and soul. Reading The Plumed Serpent you get all that and more. Lawrence is most famous for Lady Chatterley’s Lover but The Plumed Serpent is by far the superior novel. Always an autobiographical writer, The Plumed Serpent catches Lawrence i D.H. Lawrence came from a day and age when writing was self discovery.

It was a way to find out who you were, a way to open up new worlds within yourself. And the people loved reading about it. You grasped a sense of a writer's psyche, his mind, his emotions and soul. Reading The Plumed Serpent you get all that and more. Lawrence is most famous for Lady Chatterley’s Lover but The Plumed Serpent is by far the superior novel. Always an autobiographical writer, The Plumed Serpent catches Lawrence in the midst of his famed "savage pilgrimage's" North American swing, specifically Mexico. Well, let me tell you, Lawrence will put you there! You'll be sweaty and a bit dirty too. The flies will buzz and bite your ankles. The sun shining off the matador’s sword will blind you. Simply put—it's an experience. And, oh yeah, there's a story running through it too. A woman from Ireland, Kate Leslie, is exposed to the brutality of Mexican culture. The novel opens at a bullfight in Mexico City, and you need to remember that Lawrence is no ordinary writer.

Catch this description of how a bull runs into the bullfighting ring for the first time: He ran out, blindly, as if from the dark, probably thinking that now he was free. Then he stopped short, seeing he was not free, but surrounded in an unknown way. He was utterly at a loss. Back to the story. Kate Leslie (the Irish woman) is repulsed by what she sees, but then she meets General Cipriano, a pure-bred Indian, and then eventually is introduced to his friend, Don Ramon, a political leader. Both men want to revive the old pagan ways (and this is where Lawrence, obsessed with sexuality and blood, comes in with his phallic power notions), and little by little Kate is drawn under their spell. The book will impact you. It is powerful and yes, in a pagan, rudimentary, life-force way. In this snippet Kate begins to realize General Cipriano' primeval appeal: In the shadowy world where men were visionless, and winds of fury rose up from the earth, Cipriano was still a power.

Once you entered his mystery the scale of all things changed, and he became a living male power, undefined, and unconfined. The smallness, the limitation ceased to exist. The Plumed Serpent is pure Lawrence. It may be a bit strong for some, but for others, perhaps the majority, it will be a welcome literary wallop. Free download available at eBooks@Adelaide . Quotations: She felt again, as the felt before, that Mexico lay in her destiny almost as a doom. Something so heavy, so oppressive, like the folds of some huge serpent that seemed as if it could hardly raise itself. "There is no such thing as liberty,The greatest liberators are usually slaves of an idea. The freest people are slaves to convention and public opinion, and more still, slaves to the industrial machine. There is no such thi My rating: 3,5 stars Free download available at eBooks@Adelaide . Quotations: She felt again, as the felt before, that Mexico lay in her destiny almost as a doom. Something so heavy, so oppressive, like the folds of some huge serpent that seemed as if it could hardly raise itself.

"There is no such thing as liberty,The greatest liberators are usually slaves of an idea. The freest people are slaves to convention and public opinion, and more still, slaves to the industrial machine. There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master." ...more Mar 08, 2015 Dillwynia Peter rated it liked it · review of another edition Thank you, Mr Lawrence – I think. Much to think about here, but also much that isn’t acceptable or comfortable in a 21st Century world. As the academic wrote in the Introduction to my edition: “if you want a handbook for how to set up your own Fascist group this has it all.” The main theme of this book is the establishment of a Fascist group in Mexico using pre-European type gods to influence the native Indian population to join. The publication date is really important when reading this book, be Thank you, Mr Lawrence – I think. Much to think about here, but also much that isn’t acceptable or comfortable in a 21st Century world.

As the academic wrote in the Introduction to my edition: “if you want a handbook for how to set up your own Fascist group this has it all.” The main theme of this book is the establishment of a Fascist group in Mexico using pre-European type gods to influence the native Indian population to join. The publication date is really important when reading this book, because if you don’t then you can easily run along claiming Lawrence is a supporter of Mussolini & Hitler. The fact that he pre-empts them for almost 10 years says a lot. Intellectual adults who had survived the Great War wanted a change in how governments were run: they felt the previous types – monarchy & democratic capitalism had failed the people. It was a common belief that a charismatic person could rise & save the populous; the two extreme ways were socialist/ communism, or right-wing oligarchies. It is really important that people in Britain thought Mussolini & Hitler were doing great things as they repatriated Italy & Germany. So, I feel we must not condemn Lawrence for his intellectual experiment in this novel. Why he supported an oligarchy of men, ruling over others is a little beyond me- especially as he was a collier’s son.

The concepts of “eugenics” in a broad sense (so, no mixing of blood/ races), new order that uses old religions to break down the power of the Europeans and their corrupt ways - culture, ideas and religion – and thus anti-colonialism, and feminism, are all played out here. The serious problem is Lawrence doesn’t deal well with any of these: he waivers from point of view within the characters and not between the characters. And even her, he is heavy handed. Kate, the European women getting bound up in the all the fervour and excitement is a good case in point. I have no problems with Kate vacillating between getting away from the Mexican madness and joining the cult, but for a satisfactory outcome for the reader, she needed to make a decision on that final page! And then there is the feminist aspect – he produces a free-thinking, independent woman, who then considers being a second fiddle to the men. Really, Mr Lawrence!!!! Finally, there is the sensuality & sexuality in the book.

The men spend most of their bare from the waist up (all very titillating for the early 1920s), the word sperm is used to describe the colour of the water at least 4 times, and we have esoteric metaphysical descriptions of the blood rush when one is sexuality roused, for both men and women. Everywhere the feeling of sensuality abounds – in the raw descriptions of the plants and flowers, the animals, particularly the stallion and oxen scenes. It has that exotic, steamy tropical sensual excitement about it. My other problem with this novel is the writing style. Lawrence is stodgy. I always forget how stodgy he can be – think swimming through molasses or porridge. For this reason, he can slow down action and description to a boring mess of sentences. However, on the other hand, there are moments of poetic brilliance and beauty. Some of the sentences, aiming to be poetic, instead do feel contrived. Will I recommend this others?? No. However, if you want to read a book about fascist ideas from an English intellectual, or you want to read all of Lawrence’s novels, then go for it.

Shelves: reviewed-books Remember Mexico was still fresh from revolution. Lawrence does tap into the 'political' here, but from that vision of his always textured with body-psychology. Any reader not expecting immersion in liquids denser than simple bathwater should be forewarned. Lawrence comes as close as any, for a man, to getting at a woman's psyche. Granted, all relationships for him reverberate in a mind encased by nature and saturate the mind with a nature humid with August and not devoid of insects. His world sme Remember Mexico was still fresh from revolution. Lawrence does tap into the 'political' here, but from that vision of his always textured with body-psychology. Any reader not expecting immersion in liquids denser than simple bathwater should be forewarned. Lawrence comes as close as any, for a man, to getting at a woman's psyche. Granted, all relationships for him reverberate in a mind encased by nature and saturate the mind with a nature humid with August and not devoid of insects. His world smells and gets felt, annoys and perturbs. In short, it means itself in a context that strikes a reader as seriously real.

Is it possible for moderns to become Aztec gods? Is it possible for two men and a woman to find their 'place' together? We, ourselves, are so blanched with 'science' -- the overnight anchovy left over on the kitchen platter -- that when we reach for myth to explain ourselves, we find cartoons. DHL records the succulence of life. Sometimes it's pretty, and it's largely frightening. ...more Oct 08, 2012 Lee Holz rated it it was ok Although one hesitates to give any book by D. H. Lawrence two stars, in this case I must. The Plumed Serpent is no Son’s and Lovers. This late Lawrence book is filled with long-winded, pretentious and repetitive passages of ersatz Aztec religious claptrap and equally ill-conceived mysticism about the savage Mexican Indian as a race. Couple these with a sort of proto-fascism, and one has a pretty nasty book. Lawrence’s take on gender relations in this world of neo-Aztec revival is equally unattra Although one hesitates to give any book by D. H. Lawrence two stars, in this case I must.

The Plumed Serpent is no Son’s and Lovers. This late Lawrence book is filled with long-winded, pretentious and repetitive passages of ersatz Aztec religious claptrap and equally ill-conceived mysticism about the savage Mexican Indian as a race. Couple these with a sort of proto-fascism, and one has a pretty nasty book. Lawrence’s take on gender relations in this world of neo-Aztec revival is equally unattractive. At the same time, there are the descriptive passages of great lyric beauty that are pure Lawrence and some earnest wrestling with questions of individualism versus the commonality of humankind. I didn’t like the book, but I’m glad I read it. ...more Feb 02, 2014 Jess rated it did not like it Disappointing read. I had a very hard time staying with this story as it was slow and negative. I wanted to put it down multiple times but stayed with it hoping for a lovely finish. Would not recommend like I would Lady C's Lover.

Sep 16, 2015 Robert Spencer rated it liked it · review of another edition Hardly a stranger to controversy, DH Lawrence really went to town on some of society’s more sensitive aspects with his largely unheralded later work, The Plumed Serpent. Mixing blasphemy, violence, sensuality and issues of race and gender with a sneering contempt for both developed and third world contemporary cultures, it’s an explosive work even for today’s readers. For the folks back in 1926, it must have seemed an utterly alien piece of literature, which probably helps explain why it was con Hardly a stranger to controversy, DH Lawrence really went to town on some of society’s more sensitive aspects with his largely unheralded later work, The Plumed Serpent. Mixing blasphemy, violence, sensuality and issues of race and gender with a sneering contempt for both developed and third world contemporary cultures, it’s an explosive work even for today’s readers. For the folks back in 1926, it must have seemed an utterly alien piece of literature, which probably helps explain why it was considered a critical failure at the time.

The story revolves around Irish widow Kate Leslie, who has relocated to Mexico following the death of her husband. Appalled by what she sees as the elemental barbarity of Mexican culture, she is drawn inexorably into the orbit of two powerfully charismatic men. Don Ramon is a prominent politician who has undergone some sort of epiphany and now sees himself as a kind of messiah for Mexico; he sets himself the task of expelling Christian worship from the land and replacing it with a return to the old pagan worship of Quetzalcouatl and the other Aztec gods. His right hand man is Cipriano, a General of purely indigenous descent; the controller of a devoted section of the Mexican Army, he is a powerful man. Quickly becoming enamoured of Kate, he influences her to move to the lake town of Sayula - the centre of Don Ramon’s new cult. The Plumed Serpent is a work of such intense criticism of - well - just about everything, actually - that it is kind of the literary equivalent of being bashed about the head with a cricket bat.

But there’s no doubt that, in amongst the diatribes against religion, Americans, English, Mexicans and women there are some passages of truly astounding insight and beauty. Much of the book is devoted to recounting Don Ramon’s sermons to the people, word for word; although often containing some beautiful poetry, the length of these can be quite exhausting. Conversely, there are some scenes of extraordinarily exciting action and violence. Lawrence seems to have had a close to peerless skill in describing movement and conflict with a languid economy of meaning that is supremely effective in conveying the scene. The scene where Don Ramon’s house is attacked by bandits is as desperate and graphically violent as anything from a modern thriller writer. Although not considered one of his greatest novels, The Plumed Serpent is a profound and savage work. ...more Aug 04, 2014 Brian rated it liked it 'The Plumed Serpent' is the strangest D.H. Lawrence novel I've read, and I did nearly give it up altogether a couple of times. Once I allowed myself to skim or skip the lengthy, nonsensical Quetzalcoatl 'sermons' I was able to enjoy much of the book.

Lush descriptions of the lake, based upon Lake Chapala in Jalisco and Michoacán, expanded the middle of the book and provided a backdrop to the main protagonist's existential quest; a bit reminiscent of Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'. Lawrence tends t 'The Plumed Serpent' is the strangest D.H. Lawrence novel I've read, and I did nearly give it up altogether a couple of times. Once I allowed myself to skim or skip the lengthy, nonsensical Quetzalcoatl 'sermons' I was able to enjoy much of the book. Lush descriptions of the lake, based upon Lake Chapala in Jalisco and Michoacán, expanded the middle of the book and provided a backdrop to the main protagonist's existential quest; a bit reminiscent of Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'. Lawrence tends to hammer one over the head sometimes with his heavy repetition of imagery and symbolism, and in this novel it is the constant reference to images of darkness: the darkness of the night, or the dark people and their inscrutable motivations. However much Lawrence might have disparaged the English class system in his other novels, 'The Plumed Serpent' betrays this system at work in the author.

The central Mexican characters in the novel speak Castilian and have European heritage, the Indians are peons and/or bandits--and are the darkest metaphorically. Modern readers, particularly, in reacting to this book have charged Lawrence with racism, and in fact the novel makes some pretty distasteful, disparaging remarks about the Indians. I've tried to balance the argument about the era that the writer lived in against the way that people and history have come to be perceived now, with mixed results; I did, however continue to read and find value in the novel. ...more Shelves: classic-literature D. H. Lawrence's epic about Mexico reclaiming its old Aztec gods is both overlong and overblown, especially the many pages he spends unfolding one religious chant after another. It's also a little annoying that his desire to return to primitive consciousness is dependent upon so many people being stupid. On the other hand, you can often read his prose for hour after hour never caring what he's actually blathering about, because it is so damn well written that the words themselves mesmerize you. E D. H.

Lawrence's epic about Mexico reclaiming its old Aztec gods is both overlong and overblown, especially the many pages he spends unfolding one religious chant after another. It's also a little annoying that his desire to return to primitive consciousness is dependent upon so many people being stupid. On the other hand, you can often read his prose for hour after hour never caring what he's actually blathering about, because it is so damn well written that the words themselves mesmerize you. Even in his failures, Lawrence remains a great writer. Still, four stars, not five, with advice to skip the religious chants.

...more Shelves: lawrence , religion The best and worst of Lawrence: on one hand a powerful feeling for the environment of Mexico and some beautiful descriptions of rituals of regeneration and duality, on the other hand an almost punishing harangue of characters and entire peoples "beneath" the writer's contempt and, notoriously, a seriously problematic flirtation with the fascistic side of neo-paganist "cults of the body." Still, I'd rather learn and feel something new from an impassioned writer whose justified detestation of mach The best and worst of Lawrence: on one hand a powerful feeling for the environment of Mexico and some beautiful descriptions of rituals of regeneration and duality, on the other hand an almost punishing harangue of characters and entire peoples "beneath" the writer's contempt and, notoriously, a seriously problematic flirtation with the fascistic side of neo-paganist "cults of the body." Still, I'd rather learn and feel something new from an impassioned writer whose justified detestation of machine-age soullessness took him into dangerous areas of thought than follow the lead of a milquetoast talent content with the absence of philosophical or aesthetic risk.

...more Jul 12, 2007 Anne rated it did not like it So, I love DH Lawrence--I devoured most of his novels while in highschool and decided to pick this up at the bookstore because it was a DH Lawrence taking place in one of my favorite places: Mexico. I thought I'd love it, well, other than the frenetic, fantastic description of Mexico City, I really hated this book. The tempo was slow, the story line not compelling and in the end I didn't even finish reading it, which I never do. I'm not sure if my adoration of Lawrence's other books was just a hi So, I love DH Lawrence--I devoured most of his novels while in highschool and decided to pick this up at the bookstore because it was a DH Lawrence taking place in one of my favorite places: Mexico. I thought I'd love it, well, other than the frenetic, fantastic description of Mexico City, I really hated this book. The tempo was slow, the story line not compelling and in the end I didn't even finish reading it, which I never do.

I'm not sure if my adoration of Lawrence's other books was just a highschool crush or if this one was just horrible, but I was sincerely disappointed by this book. ...more Shelves: books-i-own "Пернатата змия" доста се отличава от останалите творби на Лорънс, въпреки че отново се усеща яркото проявление на индивидуалността на модерния човек (в случая жена), противопоставено на традицията, миналото и закостенелостта. Книгата е хубава, на моменти религиозното идва в повече, но не може да се отрече, че авторът е тънък познавач на човешката психика и успява много добре да обрисува противоречивите чувства на човешката душа.

Колкото и да е свободна и независима, Кейт въпреки всичко си остав "Пернатата змия" доста се отличава от останалите творби на Лорънс, въпреки че отново се усеща яркото проявление на индивидуалността на модерния човек (в случая жена), противопоставено на традицията, миналото и закостенелостта. Книгата е хубава, на моменти религиозното идва в повече, но не може да се отрече, че авторът е тънък познавач на човешката психика и успява много добре да обрисува противоречивите чувства на човешката душа.

Колкото и да е свободна и независима, Кейт въпреки всичко си остава жена, която иска да бъде обичана, а Сиприано и Рамон - предимно отправени към божественото, гледащи с други очи на света. Интересни сблъсъци и противопоставяния в цялята книга. ...more Oct 24, 2008 D Warner rated it really liked it When I read this book I was fascinated by the feminist implications of a mother of two boys leaving her family behind and starting a new life in an exotic land. Now, putting these theoretical interests on the backburner, I would be interested to reread this book as a work of fiction first and foremost. I believe my finding that this book would be deeply flawed, if for not other reason than the fact that, as I remember it, the arrival of Kate to Mexico is poorly explained.

In this way the book co When I read this book I was fascinated by the feminist implications of a mother of two boys leaving her family behind and starting a new life in an exotic land. Now, putting these theoretical interests on the backburner, I would be interested to reread this book as a work of fiction first and foremost. I believe my finding that this book would be deeply flawed, if for not other reason than the fact that, as I remember it, the arrival of Kate to Mexico is poorly explained. In this way the book contains the same kind of inexplicable action as "Sister Carrie." ...more Aug 01, 2015 Marcus Schantz rated it it was amazing I found this book interesting. It is a mix of religion, philosophy, mysticism, cultism and is essentially about rebirth and letting go of what you think you know and giving all of yourself to something. It was like nothing else I've read of Lawrence, but it's a book that will make you think if you read it with an open mind. Dec 30, 2016 Skip rated it it was amazing This line aptly applies to the U.S.

today, given the recent election: "They seem to love criminals and ghastly things. All the foulness that lies at the bottom, they want to stir up to the top. They seem to enjoy it. To enjoy making everything fouler." That was written nearly a hundred years ago. It has only gotten worse, as we see now with the recent election. This is a writer with the clearest insight who lives on the high shelf with Shakespeare. Shelves: favourite "Защото именно в това - единственото, което превъзхожда всичкатачовешка власт, а в същото време е властта; което превишава познанието; странната звезда между небето и водите на първия космос - в това се състои божествеността на човека." Nov 09, 2016 Adam Harris rated it it was amazing All about that quietcoddle and hootchlipotli. Yeah, cults!

Aug 23, 2013 Adam O'leary rated it it was ok D H Lawrence imagines the Mexican Revolution taking a spiritual turn, as indigenous Mexicans have supposedly failed to comprehend Christianity, capitalism and socialism due to their specific cultural character, Don Ramón and General Viedma create a cult in which they are the living embodiments of the resurrected Aztec gods, Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli. Lawrence places Irishwoman Kate Leslie in their midst, travelling with her American friends. She is at once fascinated and revolted by indig D H Lawrence imagines the Mexican Revolution taking a spiritual turn, as indigenous Mexicans have supposedly failed to comprehend Christianity, capitalism and socialism due to their specific cultural character, Don Ramón and General Viedma create a cult in which they are the living embodiments of the resurrected Aztec gods, Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli. Lawrence places Irishwoman Kate Leslie in their midst, travelling with her American friends.

She is at once fascinated and revolted by indigenous Mexican culture, and while at first being drawn to the vitality of the resurrected rituals she gradually becomes uncomfortable with the violence and subjugation of individuality, precious to her as a European, that the cult requires. This novel makes for an unsettling read that analyses the mechanisms of fascistic personality politics that cultivated myths of national identity and racial difference or superiority. It would be interesting to know how a contemporary reader would have responded to this novel, without the feeling that the sense of doom overshadowing the whole work had been confirmed by events in Germany, Italy and Spain only a few years after publication. However, despite the intellectual content, I found the book quite a chore to read, especially given the possibilities when a novel deals with gods, revolutions, ritual and exotic landscapes. It was very dry and at times, attempts to imbue the landscape with vital, anthropomorphic, mostly masculine qualities bordered on the ridiculous: Kate goes sailing on a 'sperm-coloured' lake and gets blown by 'phallic winds' - these descriptions seem over-laboured and clunky compared to earlier Lawrence novels I've read, like The White Peacock and The Rainbow. All in all, I'm quite disappointed.

...more Shelves: 1001-books , international This novel appears to be an existential exploration for Lawrence. I almost got the sense he was exploring his belief, not just expounding it. But may be not. Told from the point of view of Kate Leslie, a middle-aged Irishwoman visiting Mexico, who becomes acquainted with two men trying to re-establish the Aztec religion in place of Catholicism, which they feel doesn't "suit" the Mexican people, it seems to ask and sometimes answer quite a few questions? What is soul? What is spirit? What is will This novel appears to be an existential exploration for Lawrence. I almost got the sense he was exploring his belief, not just expounding it. But may be not. Told from the point of view of Kate Leslie, a middle-aged Irishwoman visiting Mexico, who becomes acquainted with two men trying to re-establish the Aztec religion in place of Catholicism, which they feel doesn't "suit" the Mexican people, it seems to ask and sometimes answer quite a few questions? What is soul? What is spirit? What is will? What is body? What is life? How are they related, connected, and yet different?

Lawrence ties these questions not just to the lives and spirits (etc) of the individual characters, but to the societies of the people - Mexican, European and American (US). He touches on yin/yang concepts, ultimately appearing to conclude that neither women nor men are 'complete' unless they are united (in a romantic relationship). It does come off a bit misogynistic although I suspect not by design. (I haven't researched real-world Lawrence, so wouldn't know.) Although I didn't really "enjoy" this overall, and felt very loooooong, there were a number of passages I marked as really well portrayed or expressed. [Examples too long to post...] A big question I have is what impressions do Mexican readers have of Lawrence's portrayal of Mexico - does it ring true TO YOU when you read it? I wonder how much of it is reflective of what Mexico might really have felt like to a foreign visitor of the time versus how much of it is simply intended to serve Lawrence's design purpose and not truly mirror reality. ...more Apr 07, 2008 Lucia rated it liked it I expected this book to be really difficult. It was in some ways. I loved it at first.

I love the complicated, conflicted, complex and compelling woman main character Kate. I love how he captures the dread of the mexican spirit. The feeling of negative death swamping over everything that even I see in Mexico. The aztec culture mixed with catholocism, two idealogies obsessed with death, with epic suffering leading to gods without pleasure. Pure seriousness. But it is too much, overall. Lawrence r I expected this book to be really difficult. It was in some ways. I loved it at first. I love the complicated, conflicted, complex and compelling woman main character Kate. I love how he captures the dread of the mexican spirit. The feeling of negative death swamping over everything that even I see in Mexico. The aztec culture mixed with catholocism, two idealogies obsessed with death, with epic suffering leading to gods without pleasure. Pure seriousness. But it is too much, overall. Lawrence repeats himself over and over, the same ideas, the same scenes even. Maybe I’m too dense to get it, but I’d really have like to have about 150 less pages.

Two Passages I Like: "Politics must go their own way, and society must do as it will…Politics and all this social religion…is like washing the outside of the egg, to make it look clean. But I, myself, want to get to the inside of the egg, right to the middle, to start growing it into a new bird." "Men and women should know that they cannot, absolutely, meet on earth. In the closest kiss, the dearest touch, there is the small gulf which is none the less complete because it is so narrow, so nearly non-existant. They must bow and submit in reverence, to the gulf. Even though I eat the body and drink the blood of Christ, Christ is Christ and I am I, and the gulf is impassable…That which we get from the beyond we get alone." Shelves: classic There is a great peculiarity at work in the writing of DH Lawrence, and this is a strange and complex work, with its colourful, grandiose themes, coupled with a kind of awkwardness; sentences that refuse to flow, that tumble, rather than wash, over you.

At times it has a kind of angular poetry to it, and with time - say 200 pages - it becomes oddly compelling. There is a great depth of feeling here, a sense of alienation from religion, from politics, from society, and from oneself, and a desire There is a great peculiarity at work in the writing of DH Lawrence, and this is a strange and complex work, with its colourful, grandiose themes, coupled with a kind of awkwardness; sentences that refuse to flow, that tumble, rather than wash, over you. At times it has a kind of angular poetry to it, and with time - say 200 pages - it becomes oddly compelling. There is a great depth of feeling here, a sense of alienation from religion, from politics, from society, and from oneself, and a desire to reach back in order to make something new, think and do something else. So cast out are the old icons and disembodied symbols of the old religion, and a new, physical, visceral, embodied spirituality is made in the images of the ancient gods.

And yet it is also a love story, a little like Twelfth Night, 2 pairs of lovers, a little mystery, a hint of betrayal, and the question of what love might be. ...more Jul 30, 2011 Phyllis rated it it was ok When the unabridged edition of Lady Chatterly's Lover came out, I was working in the college library (Ohio) It was in a locked case in the stacks. I now confess that every time I was sent for a book I took the key with me. I'd read a fast five pages, and rush back with a book. Heavens knows how long it took me to read it, but I was probably one of the first persons in Ohio to do so. I also read Women in Love and mostly remember the colors red and yellow. When I moved to Mexico I first began read When the unabridged edition of Lady Chatterly's Lover came out, I was working in the college library (Ohio) It was in a locked case in the stacks. I now confess that every time I was sent for a book I took the key with me. I'd read a fast five pages, and rush back with a book.

Heavens knows how long it took me to read it, but I was probably one of the first persons in Ohio to do so. I also read Women in Love and mostly remember the colors red and yellow. When I moved to Mexico I first began reading the Plumed Serpent. A year later I tried again...and again. I finally determined to finish it so I'd never have to begin this terribly boring book again. The only thing that remained from the final reading was also a color. Lawrence claimed that Lake Chapala, which I can see from my terrace as I'm writing, was the color of semen. Unfortunately that has made this book unforgettable for me. ...more Feb 23, 2015 Elias Westerberg rated it liked it Tone and themes remind me of JG Ballard. Even the naming of the chapters are similar. I guess DH Lawrence must have been a great influence on him. What's basically a weird s/m love story between the narrator and Mexico, quickly evolves into a complex multi-layered male/female new world/old world dialectic.

You have to be on your toes all the time because very strange and not entirely pleasant ideas are put forward by the author in a quite convincing (and poetic) way. Being a real Aztec nerd, the Tone and themes remind me of JG Ballard. Even the naming of the chapters are similar. I guess DH Lawrence must have been a great influence on him. What's basically a weird s/m love story between the narrator and Mexico, quickly evolves into a complex multi-layered male/female new world/old world dialectic. You have to be on your toes all the time because very strange and not entirely pleasant ideas are put forward by the author in a quite convincing (and poetic) way. Being a real Aztec nerd, the overall concept of emerging neo-aztecs was thrilling. It's also set in an interesting time in Mexican history. But apart from that and some high energy action scenes it was actually pretty boring. Beautiful and weird but boring. Mar 07, 2012 Adam rated it liked it First let me start off by saying that the preface or introduction was quite helpful in putting this book into context. It was a challenge to keep with the storyline at times. So slow.

There are moments of introspection and philosophy which I felt really added a needed depth to the story. But the real gem in this book for me was the symbols present. Sure I looked some up, but saying so much through the book and not using your character dialogue (internal and otherwise) was truly beautiful. The on First let me start off by saying that the preface or introduction was quite helpful in putting this book into context. It was a challenge to keep with the storyline at times. So slow. There are moments of introspection and philosophy which I felt really added a needed depth to the story. But the real gem in this book for me was the symbols present. Sure I looked some up, but saying so much through the book and not using your character dialogue (internal and otherwise) was truly beautiful. The only reason I liked and not really liked this book was it did get a bit tedious at the end. The love story between Cipriano, Kate and Kate with herself could only carry this story so far. But, like I said earlier Lawrence paints a wonderful picture of Mexico and of Ramon's religion.

...more Mar 16, 2010 Kristin Carlisle rated it it was ok I made it to page 200 and decided to quit. Some gorgeous passages, but this book is seriously WAAAY too new-agey. And the constant romanticism of Mexico's "dark races" and "masses of black-eyed peons" is, well, racist. I know it was written in the early 20th century... but I cant handle it! Oh, and the heroine, Kate, is this weak, frightened Irishwoman who basically does nothing but stand transfixed by "the dark eyed" Mexicans, who, by the way, have no authentic voice...they are always just bang I made it to page 200 and decided to quit. Some gorgeous passages, but this book is seriously WAAAY too new-agey. And the constant romanticism of Mexico's "dark races" and "masses of black-eyed peons" is, well, racist. I know it was written in the early 20th century... but I cant handle it!

Oh, and the heroine, Kate, is this weak, frightened Irishwoman who basically does nothing but stand transfixed by "the dark eyed" Mexicans, who, by the way, have no authentic voice...they are always just banging drums and chanting to the god Quetzalcoatl. I enjoyed Lady Chatterly's Lover and Ill read Sons and Lovers one of these days. But Im tossing The Plumed Serpent! ...more Jul 30, 2011 Rashad Raoufi rated it really liked it its a very confusing and complex book, a masterpiece of writing but confusing to read, it has his whole critic of the dryness of the curopean christian tradition and his own white european guilt whilst still thinking he is somehow superior than non-whites. its defo nt lady chatterleys's lover which was a joy to read. although absorbing at times mostly it was nt a bore but hard to grasp.

its very clear that he put alot of labour into it and the writing shoes, the characters are complex yet someho its a very confusing and complex book, a masterpiece of writing but confusing to read, it has his whole critic of the dryness of the curopean christian tradition and his own white european guilt whilst still thinking he is somehow superior than non-whites. its defo nt lady chatterleys's lover which was a joy to read. although absorbing at times mostly it was nt a bore but hard to grasp. its very clear that he put alot of labour into it and the writing shoes, the characters are complex yet somehow i think his own confusion is shwn in kate, or maybe he thought he was a master like ramon! haha either a gud read but nt very enjoybale. ...more The Plumed Serpent by D H Lawrence A novel by D H Lawrence The Plumed Serpent is set in Mexico in the 1920s, an era of political turmoil, and centres on a revolutionary movement to revive the religion of the ancient Aztecs. The brilliant vision of place, the violent action and the rituals and myth for the new religion all combine to make it one of Lawrence's most vivid novels.

The Cambridge edition establishes for the first time a meticulously edited text based on the manuscript, typescript and proof material, nearly all of which survives. Several lengthy passages rejected in the course of composition and here included in the textual apparatus offer a close look at the intricacies of Lawrence's progress toward a final conception of the novel. Full annotation and appendixes on Mexican politics and Aztec religion are also provided to assist in comprehending the often arcane concepts to which Lawrence applied his imaginative power. The Plumed Serpent Analysis - eNotes.com The Plumed Serpent Analysis link Link *Mexico *Mexico. Country in which the novel is set. Lawrence visited Mexico shortly before writing the novel looking, simultaneously, for a climate to help his failing health, an escape from the censorship he faced in England for his political views and for the overt sexuality of his novels, and, perhaps most important, an alternative to what he saw as the dead, “mechanistic” quality of European life. The title The Plumed Serpent refers to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, who functions in the novel as, among other things, a symbol for Mexico itself. Lawrence describes Mexico as embodying the qualities of both the reptile and the bird.

On one hand, Mexico and its people appear as primitive and somewhat sinister; Lawrence repeatedly uses the word “reptilian” to describe them. On the other hand, Mexico offers the protagonist, Kate Leslie, a spiritual transformation akin to soaring. Her transformation occurs through her sexual union with the Mexican general Cipriano Viedma, whose pure Indian blood is undiluted by European corruption. “Plumed serpent” describes not only Cipriano’s country but also his penis. The equation of Mexico with powerful male sexuality helps explain the country’s appeal for Lawrence. Lawrence contrasts Mexico with both Europe and the United States. Europe kills the soul and sometimes even the body. Kate’s former husband, an Irish revolutionary, ruined his health and died fighting for his own country’s freedom. The United States represents... (The entire section is 624 words.) Get Free Access Start your free trial with eNotes for complete access to this resource and thousands more. 30,000+ Study Guides Save time with thousands of teacher-approved book and topic summaries. Get Homework Help Ask real teachers questions on any subject or search 300,000+ answers. On the Go Access D.H.

Lawrence | English writer | Britannica.com English writer Alternative Title: David Herbert Lawrence D.H. Lawrence Graham Greene D.H. Lawrence, in full David Herbert Lawrence (born September 11, 1885, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire , England —died March 2, 1930, Vence, France ), English author of novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, and letters. His novels Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), and Women in Love (1920) made him one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. D.H. Lawrence Elliott and Fry Collection/Bassano Studios Youth and early career Lawrence was the fourth child of a north Midlands coal miner who had worked from the age of 10, was a dialect speaker, a drinker, and virtually illiterate. Lawrence’s mother, who came from the south of England, was educated, refined, and pious.

Lawrence won a scholarship to Nottingham High School (1898–1901) and left at 16 to earn a living as clerk in a factory, but he had to give up work after a first attack of pneumonia. While convalescing, he began visiting the Haggs Farm nearby and began an intense friendship (1902–10) with Jessie Chambers. He became a pupil-teacher in Eastwood in 1902 and performed brilliantly in the national examination. Encouraged by Jessie, he began to write in 1905; his first story was published in a local newspaper in 1907. He studied at University College, Nottingham, from 1906 to 1908, earning a teacher’s certificate, and went on writing poems and stories and drafting his first novel , The White Peacock. The Eastwood setting, especially the contrast between mining town and unspoiled countryside, the life and culture of the miners, the strife between his parents, and its effect on his tortured relationship with Jessie all became themes of Lawrence’s early short stories and novels. He kept on returning to Eastwood in imagination long after he had left it in fact.

In 1908 Lawrence went to teach in Croydon, a London suburb. Jessie Chambers sent some of his poems to Ford Madox Hueffer ( Ford Madox Ford ), editor of the influential English Review. Hueffer recognized his genius, the Review began to publish his work, and Lawrence was able to meet such rising young writers as Ezra Pound . Hueffer recommended The White Peacock to the publisher William Heinemann , who published it in 1911, just after the death of Lawrence’s mother, his break with Jessie, and his engagement to Louie Burrows. His second novel, The Trespasser (1912), gained the interest of the influential editor Edward Garnett , who secured the third novel, Sons and Lovers, for his own firm, Duckworth. In the crucial year of 1911–12 Lawrence had another attack of pneumonia. He broke his engagement to Louie and decided to give up teaching and live by writing, preferably abroad. Most importantly, he fell in love and eloped with Frieda Weekley (née von Richthofen), the aristocratic German wife of a professor at Nottingham.

The couple went first to Germany and then to Italy , where Lawrence completed Sons and Lovers. They were married in England in 1914 after Frieda’s divorce. D.H. Lawrence. Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent Lawrence’s first two novels, first play , and most of his early short stories, including such masterpieces as Odour of Chrysanthemums and Daughters of the Vicar (collected in The Prussian Officer, and Other Stories, 1914), use early experience as a departure point. Sons and Lovers carries this process to the point of quasi-autobiography. The book depicts Eastwood and the Haggs Farm, the twin poles of Lawrence’s early life, with vivid realism. The central character, Paul Morel, is naturally identified as Lawrence; the miner-father who drinks and the powerful mother who resists him are clearly modeled on his parents; and the painful devotion of Miriam Leivers resembles that of Jessie Chambers. An older brother, William, who dies young, parallels Lawrence’s brother Ernest, who met an early death. In the novel, the mother turns to her elder son William for emotional fulfillment in place of his father.

This section of the original manuscript was much reduced by Garnett before publication. Garnett’s editing not only eliminated some passages of sexual outspokenness but also removed as repetitive structural elements that constitute the establishment of a pattern in the mother’s behaviour and that explain the plural nouns of the title. When William dies, his younger brother Paul becomes the mother’s mission and, ultimately, her victim. Paul’s adolescent love for Miriam is undermined by his mother’s dominance; though fatally attracted to Miriam, Paul cannot be sexually involved with anyone so like his mother, and the sexual relationship he forces on her proves a disaster. He then, in reaction, has a passionate affair with a married woman, Clara Dawes, in what is the only purely imaginary part of the novel. Clara’s husband is a drunken workingman whom she has undermined by her social and intellectual superiority, so their situation mirrors that of the Morels. Though Clara wants more from him, Paul can manage sexual passion only when it is split off from commitment; their affair ends after Paul and Dawes have a murderous fight, and Clara returns to her husband. Paul, for all his intelligence, cannot fully grasp his own unconscious motivations, but Lawrence silently conveys them in the pattern of the plot.

Paul can only be released by his mother’s death, and at the end of the book, he is at last free to take up his own life, though it remains uncertain whether he can finally overcome her influence. The whole narrative can be seen as Lawrence’s psychoanalytic study of his own case, a young man’s struggle to gain detachment from his mother. The Rainbow and Women in Love Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies During World War I Lawrence and his wife were trapped in England and living in poverty. At this time he was engaged in two related projects. The first was a vein of philosophical writing that he had initiated in the “Foreword” to Sons and Lovers and continued in “Study of Thomas Hardy” (1914) and later works. The other, more important project was an ambitious novel of provincial life that Lawrence rewrote and revised until it split into two major novels: The Rainbow, which was immediately suppressed in Britain as obscene; and Women in Love, which was not published until 1920.

In the meantime the Lawrences, living in a cottage in remote Cornwall , had to endure growing suspicion and hostility from their rural neighbours on account of Lawrence’s pacifism and Frieda’s German origins. They were expelled from the county in 1917 on suspicion of signaling to German submarines and spent the rest of the war in London and Derbyshire. Though threatened with military conscription, Lawrence wrote some of his finest work during the war. British Culture and Politics It was also a period of personal crisis. Lawrence and Frieda fought often; Frieda had always felt free to have lovers. Following a 1915 visit to Cambridge , where he met Bertrand Russell , Maynard Keynes, and other members of the Cambridge secret society known as the Apostles, Lawrence began to question his own sexual orientation. This internal conflict, which was resolved a few years later, is evident in the abandoned first chapter of Women in Love. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest In The Rainbow, the first of the novels of this period, Lawrence extends the scope of Sons and Lovers by following the Brangwen family (who live near Eastwood) over three generations, so that social and spiritual change are woven into the chronicle.

The Brangwens begin as farmers so attached to the land and the seasons as to represent a premodern unconsciousness, and succeeding generations in the novel evolve toward modern consciousness , self-consciousness, and even alienation. The book’s early part, which is poetic and mythical, records the love and marriage of Tom Brangwen with the widowed Polish exile Lydia in the 1860s. Lydia’s child Anna marries a Brangwen cousin, Will, in the 1880s. These two initially have a stormy relationship but subside into conventional domesticity anchored by work, home, and children. Expanding consciousness is transmitted to the next generation, Lawrence’s own, in the person of their daughter Ursula. The last third of the novel describes Ursula’s childhood relationship with her father and her passionate but unsuccessful romantic involvement with the soldier Anton Skrebensky. Ursula’s attraction toward Skrebensky is negated by his social conventionality, and her rejection of him is symbolized by a sexual relationship in which she becomes dominant.

Ursula miscarries their child, and at the novel’s end she is left on her own in a convalescence like Paul Morel’s, facing a difficult future before World War I. There was an element of war hysteria in the legal suppression of the book in 1915, but the specific ground was a homoerotic episode between Ursula and a female teacher. Lawrence was marked as a subversive writer. Women in Love takes up the story, but across the gap of changed consciousness created by World War I. The women of the title are Ursula, picking up her life, still at home, and doubtful of her role as teacher and her social and intellectual status; and her sister Gudrun, who is also a teacher but an artist and a free spirit as well. They are modern women, educated, free from stereotyped assumptions about their role, and sexually autonomous . Though unsure of what to do with their lives, they are unwilling to settle for an ordinary marriage as a solution to the problem.

The sisters’ aspirations crystallize in their romantic relationships: Ursula’s with Rupert Birkin , a university graduate and school inspector (and also a Lawrence-figure), Gudrun’s with Gerald Crich , the handsome, ruthless, seemingly dominant industrialist who runs his family’s mines. Birkin and Gerald themselves are deeply if inarticulately attached to each other. The novel follows the growth of the two relationships: one (Ursula and Birkin) is productive and hopeful, if difficult to maintain as an equilibrium of free partners. The other (Gudrun and Gerald) tips over into dominance and dependence, violence and death. The account is characterized by the extreme consciousness of the protagonists: the inarticulate struggles of earlier generations are now succeeded at the verbal level by earnest or bitter debate. Birkin’s intellectual force is met by Ursula’s mixture of warmth and skepticism and her emotional stability. The Gerald-Gudrun relationship shows his male dominance to be a shell overlying a crippling inner emptiness and lack of self-awareness, which eventually inspire revulsion in Gudrun.

The final conflict between them is played out in the high bareness of an Alpine ski resort; after a brutal assault on Gudrun, Gerald wanders off into the snow and dies. Birkin, grieving, leaves with Ursula for a new life in the warm symbolic south, in Italy. Trending Topics Eyjafjallajökull volcano The search for a fulfilling sexual love and for a form of marriage that will satisfy a modern consciousness is the goal of Lawrence’s early novels and yet becomes increasingly problematic. None of his novels ends happily: at best, they conclude with an open question. Later life and works After World War I Lawrence and his wife went to Italy (1919), and he never again lived in England. He soon embarked on a group of novels consisting of The Lost Girl (1920), Aaron’s Rod (1922), and the uncompleted Mr. Noon (published in its entirety only in 1984).

All three novels are in two parts: one set in Eastwood and sardonic about local mores, especially the tribal ritual of finding a mate, the other set in Europe, where the central figure breaks out of the tribal setting and finds what may be a true partnership. All three novels also end with an open future; in Mr. Noon, however, Lawrence gives his protagonist Lawrence’s own experience of 1912 with Frieda in Germany, thus continuing in a light-hearted manner the quasi-autobiographical treatment he had begun in Sons and Lovers. In 1921 the Lawrences decided to leave Europe and go to the United States , but eastward, via Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Australia. Since 1917 Lawrence had been working on Studies in Classic American Literature (1923), which grew out of his sense that the American West was an uncorrupted natural home. His other nonfiction works at this time include Movements in European History (1921) and two treatises on his psychological theories, Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious (1921) and Fantasia of the Unconscious (1922).

Lawrence wrote Kangaroo in six weeks while visiting Australia in 1922. This novel is a serious summary of his own position at the time. The main character and his wife move to Australia after World War I and face in the new country a range of political action: his literary talents are courted alike by socialists and by a nationalist quasi-fascist party. He cannot embrace either political movement, however, and an autobiographical chapter on his experiences in England during World War I reveals that the persecution he endured for his antiwar sentiments killed his desire to participate actively in society. In the end he leaves Australia for America. Finally reaching Taos , New Mexico , where he settled for a time, Lawrence visited Mexico in 1923 and 1924 and embarked on the ambitious novel The Plumed Serpent (1926). In this novel Lawrence maintains that the regeneration of Europe’s crumbling postwar society must come from a religious root, and if Christianity is dead, each region must return to its own indigenous religious tradition. The Plumed Serpent’s prophet-hero, a Mexican general, revives Aztec rites as the basis of a new theocratic state in Mexico whose authoritarian leaders are worshiped as gods.

The Lawrence-representative in the story, a European woman, in the end marries one of the leader-gods but remains half-repelled by his violence and irrationality. After pursuing this theme to its logical conclusion in The Plumed Serpent, however, Lawrence abandoned it, and he was reduced to his old ideal of a community where he could begin a new life with a few like-minded people. Taos was the most suitable place he had found, but he was now beginning to die; a bout of illness in 1925 produced bronchial hemorrhage, and tuberculosis was diagnosed. Lawrence returned to Italy in 1925, and in 1926 he embarked on the first versions of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and wrote Sketches of Etruscan Places, a “travel” book that projects Lawrence’s ideal personal and social life upon the Etruscans. Privately published in 1928, Lady Chatterley’s Lover led an underground life until legal decisions in New York (1959) and London (1960) made it freely available—and a model for countless literary descriptions of sexual acts.

The London verdict allowing publication capped a trial at which the book was defended by many eminent English writers. In the novel Lawrence returns for the last time to Eastwood and portrays the tender sexual love, across barriers of class and marriage, of two damaged moderns. Lawrence had always seen the need to relate sexuality to feeling, and his fiction had always extended the borders of the permissible—and had been censored in detail. In Lady Chatterley’s Lover he now fully described sexual acts as expressing aspects or moods of love, and he also used the colloquial four-letter words that naturally occur in free speech. The dying Lawrence moved to the south of France, where in 1929 he wrote Apocalypse (published 1931), a commentary on the biblical Book of Revelation that is his final religious statement. He was buried in Vence, and his ashes were removed to Taos in 1935. Poetry and nonfiction The fascination of Lawrence’s personality is attested by all who knew him, and it abundantly survives in his fiction, his poetry , his numerous prose writings, and his letters. Lawrence’s poetry deserves special mention.

In his early poems his touch is often unsure, he is too “literary,” and he is often constrained by rhyme. But by a remarkable triumph of development, he evolved a highly spontaneous mode of free verse that allowed him to express an unrivaled mixture of observation and symbolism. His poetry can be of great biographical interest, as in Look! We Have Come Through! (1917), and some of the verse in Pansies (1929) and Nettles (1930) is brilliantly sardonic. But his most original contribution is Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), in which he creates an unprecedented poetry of nature, based on his experiences of the Mediterranean scene and the American Southwest. In his Last Poems (1932) he contemplates death. No account of Lawrence’s work can omit his unsurpassable letters. In their variety of tone, vivacity, and range of interest, they convey a full and splendid picture of himself, his relation to his correspondents, and the exhilarations, depressions, and prophetic broodings of his wandering life.

Lawrence’s short stories were collected in The Prussian Officer, England My England, and Other Stories (1922), The Woman Who Rode Away, and Other Stories (1928), and Love Among the Haystacks and Other Pieces (1930), among other volumes. His early plays, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd (1914) and The Daughter-in-Law (performed 1936), have proved effective on stage and television. Of his travel books, Sea and Sardinia (1921) is the most spontaneous; the others involve parallel journeys to Lawrence’s interior. Assessment D.H. Lawrence was first recognized as a working-class novelist showing the reality of English provincial family life and—in the first days of psychoanalysis—as the author-subject of a classic case history of the Oedipus complex . In subsequent works, Lawrence’s frank handling of sexuality cast him as a pioneer of a “liberation” he would not himself have approved. From the beginning readers have been won over by the poetic vividness of his writing and his efforts to describe subjective states of emotion, sensation, and intuition .

This spontaneity and immediacy of feeling coexists with a continual, slightly modified repetition of themes, characters, and symbols that express Lawrence’s own evolving artistic vision and thought. His great novels remain difficult because their realism is underlain by obsessive personal metaphors , by elements of mythology, and above all by his attempt to express in words what is normally wordless because it exists below consciousness. Lawrence tried to go beyond the “old, stable ego” of the characters familiar to readers of more conventional fiction. His characters are continually experiencing transformations driven by unconscious processes rather than by conscious intent, thought, or ideas. Since the 1960s, Lawrence’s critical reputation has declined, largely as a result of feminist criticism of his representations of women. Although it lacks the inventiveness of his more radical Modernist contemporaries, his work—with its depictions of the preoccupations that led a generation of writers and readers to break away from Victorian social, sexual, and cultural norms—provides crucial insight into the social and cultural history of Anglo-American Modernism. Lawrence was ultimately a religious writer who did not so much reject Christianity as try to create a new religious and moral basis for modern life by continual resurrections and transformations of the self.

These changes are never limited to the social self, nor are they ever fully under the eye of consciousness. Lawrence called for a new openness to what he called the “dark gods” of nature, feeling, instinct, and sexuality; a renewed contact with these forces was, for him, the beginning of wisdom. D.H. Lawrence - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) (1885-1930). In the English literature of the 20th century, few writers have been as original or as controversial as D.H. Lawrence. He was a man almost at war with the conventions, moral constraints, and technology of modern civilization. Much of his life was spent in the search for an ideal community of people in which to live. It was a search that failed in spite of his pilgrimages to such places as Italy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, and New Mexico. His quirks of personality, his wandering way of life, and the desire to explore the depths of human relationships brought originality to his novels and poems.

Article Contributors DH Lawrence | Article about DH Lawrence by The Free Dictionary DH Lawrence | Article about DH Lawrence by The Free Dictionary Related to DH Lawrence: Lawrence of Arabia Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert Lawrence), 1885–1930, English author, one of the primary shapers of 20th-century fiction. Life The son of a Nottingham coal miner, Lawrence was a sickly child, devoted to his refined but domineering mother, who insisted upon his education. He graduated from the teacher-training course at University College, Nottingham, in 1905 and became a schoolmaster in a London suburb. In 1909 some of his poems were published in the English Review, edited by Ford Madox Ford Ford, Ford Madox, 1873–1939, English author; grandson of Ford Madox Brown. He changed his name legally from Ford Madox Hueffer in 1919. The author of over 60 works including novels, poems, criticism, travel essays, and reminiscences, Ford also edited the ..... Click the link for more information.

, who was also instrumental in the publication of Lawrence's first novel, The White Peacock (1911). Lawrence eloped to the Continent in 1912 with Frieda von Richthofen Weekley, a German noblewoman who was the wife of a Nottingham professor; they were married in 1914. During World War I the couple was forced to remain in England; Lawrence's outspoken opposition to the war and Frieda's German birth aroused suspicion that they were spies. In 1919 they left England, returning only for brief visits. Their nomadic existence was spent variously in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, the United States (New Mexico), and Mexico. Lawrence died at the age of 45 of tuberculosis, a disease with which he had struggled for years. Works Lawrence believed that industrialized Western culture was dehumanizing because it emphasized intellectual attributes to the exclusion of natural or physical instincts. He thought, however, that this culture was in decline and that humanity would soon evolve into a new awareness of itself as being a part of nature. One aspect of this "blood consciousness" would be an acceptance of the need for sexual fulfillment.

His three great novels, Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), and Women in Love (1921), concern the consequences of trying to deny humanity's union with nature. After World War I, Lawrence began to believe that society needed to be reorganized under one superhuman leader. The novels containing this theme—Aaron's Rod (1922), Kangaroo (1923), and The Plumed Serpent (1926)—are all considered failures. Lawrence's most controversial novel is Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928), the story of an English noblewoman who finds love and sexual fulfillment with her husband's gamekeeper. Because their lovemaking is described in intimate detail (for the 1920s), the novel caused a sensation and was banned in England and the United States until 1959. All of Lawrence's novels are written in a lyrical, sensuous, often rhapsodic prose style. He had an extraordinary ability to convey a sense of specific time and place, and his writings often reflected his complex personality. Lawrence's works include volumes of stories, poems, and essays.

He also wrote a number of plays, travel books such as Etruscan Places (1932), and volumes of literary criticism, notably Studies in Classic American Literature (1916). Bibliography See the Portable D. H. Lawrence, ed. by D. Trilling (1947); his collected letters (ed. with introduction by H. T. Moore, 1962); his complete poems, ed. by V. De Sola Pinto and F. W. Roberts (1977); biographies by J. M. Murray (1931), G. Trease (1973), H. T. Moore (rev. ed. 1974), J. Meyers (1990), P. Callow (1998 and 2003), and J. Worthen (2005), and series biography by J. Worthen (Vol. I, 1991), M. Kinkead-Weekes (Vol. II, 1996), and D. Ellis (Vol III., 1998); D. H.

Lawrence: The Story of a Marriage (1994) by B. Maddox; and The Cambridge Biography; studies by D. Cavitch (1970), R. E. Pritchard (1972), S. Spender, ed. (1973), S. Sanders (1974), and J. Meyers (1982 and 1985).

Question: Which word completes the title of the 1926 D H Lawrence novel - The ______ Serpent?
Answer: PLUMED