D. H. LAWRENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 185, 6 August 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

D. H. LAWRENCE.

A FRIEND'S STUDY.

In 1916, when D. H. Lawrence was little more than thirty years of age, he was heard by a friend to say, '1 believe profoundly that a single individual may prove to be of more worth than the whole generation of men in which he has lived." And the friend, Mrs. Catherine Carswell, "knew that h© was referring to himself." It does not appear that she regarded this declaration as extraordinary, in him, for of her knowledge of him she was convinced that he was an unusual man, a man with a message, and, in fact, a prophet. Mrs. Carswell has written a book about Lawrence, "The Savage Pilgrimage" (Chatto and Windus), a book which is not a biography, a collection of reminiscences or an appreciation of his literary work, but a little of each. It is a book which might well serve as an introduction to Lawrence's work, for the reading of which some preparation assuredly is needed. Mrs. Carswell relates also that a cardinal rule of Lawrence's was, "Never adapt yourself," and that was in him "something at once uncompromising and hard to understand," which repelled those who at first were charmed by his personality. If this was the effect he produced upon those who knew him, what else could be expected of those who knew only his writings than that they should misunderstand and denounce him ? Mrs. Carswell may say, "I believe that there not only mnv, but must, be a new way of life, and that Lawrence was on the track of it," but if he was on the track he did not illuminate it for others, and Bomo were convinced (and they told the world) that what Lawrence had found was not a track, but a sewer. Mrs. Carswell herself does not seriously attempt to expound the Lawrence teachings, but she does at least effectually answer the calumny that has surrounded his character. Some of his books have been prosecuted for obscenity; but his own way of living was, if not simple, austere. He was a devoted (if difficult) husband, and a generous and loyal friend. He renounced Christianity as "insufficient," but he could write of it that "the greatest thing the world has seen is Christianity, and one must be endlessly thankful for it, and weep that the world has learned the lesson so badly." Lawrence wrote of his most notorious novel that it was "verbally improper, but very truly moral," and there appears no reason to doubt that this was his conviction. But generations must pass before the world will accept his valuation of "moral." Mrs. Carswell's book is in part a spirited reply to the book on Lawrence published recently by Mr. Middleton Murry, whom she regards as a false friend. Lawrenee was a friend also of the late Katherine Mansfield, and an admirer of her work. Concerning this, Mrs. Carswell relates that in 1923 , she heard Lawrence say to Murry, "You are wrong about Katherine. She was not a great genius. She had a charming , gift, and a finely cultivated one, but not more. And to try, as you do, to make ( it more is to do her no true service." ( Will Lawrence's estimate of Katherine . Mansfield's work be that of posterity? Many of us suspect that she has been , over-praised. j