D. H. Lawrence and the Bible

Wright's study sheds light not only on his work but on the Bible on the creative process itself.

T. R. Wright (Author)

9780521781893, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 July 2000

288 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.59 kg

"T.R. Wright 's book install renewed respect both for the Bible's continuing resonance and for the ways in which that resonance shape s creative and critical writing alike...this study will prove very useful to readers interested in Lawrence, the Bible, and, most importantly, their fruitful intersection." English Literature in Transition 2002

The Bible, as this book demonstrates, plays a key role in nearly all D. H. Lawrence's work. It supplies not only the inspiration but on occasion the target for his parody. In D. H. Lawrence and The Bible, Terry Wright establishes that Lawrence was familiar with the modernist critique of the Bible by higher critics and by anthropologists of religion. He also argues, however, that Lawrence's playful reworking of the Bible, like that of Nietzsche, anticipates postmodernism. After considering the extraordinary range of Lawrence's reading and the inter texts between the Bible and Lawrence's own writing, Wright engages in a theoretically informed but clear exploration of the textual dynamics of his writing. Lawrence's writing is seen to reveal a prolonged struggle to read the Bible in a much broader spirit than that encouraged by orthodox Christianity. Wright's study sheds light not only on his work but on the Bible on the creative process itself.

Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. 'The Work of Creation': Lawrence and the Bible
2. Biblical intertextuality: Bakhtin, Bloom and Derrida
3. Higher criticism: Lawrence's break with Christianity
4. Poetic fathers: Nietzsche and the Romantic tradition
5. Pre-war poetry and fiction: Adam and Eve come through
6. Re-making Genesis: The Rainbow as counter-Bible
7. Double-reading the Bible: Esoteric Studies and Reflections
8. Genesis versus John: Women in Love, The Lost Girl and Mr Noon
9. Books of Exodus: Aaron's Rod, Kangaroo and The Boy in the Bush
10. Prose sketches, 'Evangelistic Beasts' and Stories with biblical 'Overtones'
11. Prophetic voices and 'red' mythology: The Plumed Serpent and David
12. The Risen Lord: The Escaped Cock, Lady Chatterley's Lover and the Paintings
13. Apocalypse: the conflict of love and power
14. Last Poems: final thoughts
List of references
Indices.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]