The Early Philosophical Works

This second volume of Michael Black’s commentary on Lawrence’s prose works concentrates on the extraordinary sequence of nonfiction texts written between 1913 and 1917: The “Foreword” to Sons and Lovers, Study of Thomas Hardy, Twilight in Italy, “The Crown,” “The Reality of Peace.” In all of them Lawrence was compulsively rewriting what he called “my philosophy.” They are difficult works: highly metaphorical, in places prophetically expressionist, even surreal. This extended commentary makes sense of them, treating them as a succession of experimental writings that support each other, develop non-discursive modes of writing, and are linked by shared metaphors that reveal shared preoccupations. Black’s highly useful analysis is like the close reading of poetry.