#dh lawrence

[gabriellelestat]

My mother was a clever, ironical, delicately moulded woman, of good, old burgher descent. She married below her. My father was dark, ruddy, with a fine laugh. He is a coal miner. He was one of the sanguine temperament, warm and hearty, but unstable: he lacked principle, as my mother would have said. He deceived her and lied to her. She despised him - he drank.

Their marriage life has been one carnal, bloody fight. I was born hating my father: as early as ever I can remember, I shivered with horror when he touched me. He was very bad before I was born.

This has been a kind of bond between me and my mother. We have loved each other, almost with a husband and wife love, as well as filial and maternal. We knew each other by instinct... We have been like one, so sensitive to each other that we never needed words. It has been rather terrible, and has made me, in some respects, abnormal.

I think this peculiar fusion of soul (don't think me high-falutin) never comes twice in a life-time - it doesn't seem natural. When it comes it seems to distribute one's consciousness far abroad from oneself, and one 'understands'. I think no one has got 'Understand-ing' except through love. Now my mother is nearly dead, and I don't know how I am. [Letters 1, p. 190]

— Introduction to D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers by Dr. Howard J. Booth

[vintagehomecollection]

'For greatness of beauty I have never experienced anything like New Mexico,' D.H. Lawrence wrote. The chair was made and painted by Lawrence.

Santa Fe Style, 1986

[titusandronicusonice]

Freedom anyhow? The land of the free! This the land of the free! Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that's my freedom. Free? Why, I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen. Because, as I say, they are free to lynch him the moment he shows he is not one of them.

D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (1923)

[rupertbirkinthethird]

'you have no sensuality. you have only your will and your conceit of consciousness, and your lust for power, to know.'

that's a quote from women in love by dh lawrence (my wife), and i also think hugh dancy has said its one of his favourite books? (but don't quote me on that) and it reminds me very much of hannibal, and i think it encapsulates what i find so repulsive about his character, but also so tragic.

he has no sensual, primal enjoyment of the world, except in the pungent act of killing in which he bares himself so completely he cannot hold back. dh lawrence has this idea of 'sensuality' that he refers to in a lot of his novels, and although in the modern world it is generally interchangeable with 'sexuality', he refers to it more as a natural flow of sensory being. of course humans are 'sensual' beings, hannibal is not exempt, but he has this very strong belief in will over sense. he believes his 'will', or his 'consciousness', elevates him above animals, and the fortitude of his will elevates him again above other humans. this is for a few reasons- giving him a comforting illusion of control, differentiating himself from the humans he finds so detestable, giving him a feeling of power above all others, which makes him feel invulnerable, mentally and physically (shown by the CRAZY quote 'mental illness is an affliction of the powerless' -10000 aura what are you on about). this is his 'conceit of consciousness', but it is a cheap trick, and obviously doesn't fucking work.

because there are two warring forces in the mind- our conscious linguistic thoughts, and our emotional and sensual existence, and while they clash they do and must coexist, and, consciously blocking out one, hannibal blocks himself off from this whole facet of existence, a part of which being genuine human connection, which is what renders him so vulnerable to Will. because his very identity is assumed and he is essentially lying his ass off all the time, he can't connect with anyone on a personal level, but Will is the first person who looks past that and really sees him as he is and that is the one thing he doesn't have the will to tear himself away from.

but then why is he such a hedonist? to that i say his tastes are not true, they are curated, they are another facet of this identity he has carved out for himself. but he frames them as indulgences, because the truth, which is that the only indulgence he allows himself is killing, and still then, in elevating them to art, this is a conscious act, he can't bear. he basically tells himself 'i can't have human connection, but i can have wine!' and then pretends that that makes him superior for some reason...

but obviously this is all a trauma response and he is basically ruining his own life because he can't accept that he may be the product of his environment and its so stupid. anyway conclusion is hannibal needs to have passionate gay sex with will. i am actually fully serious i think it would be very beneficial for him in this regard maybe ill yap about that some other time

[guy60660]

DH Lawrence

[pixiedeadbeat]

Two women in London with copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence in November 1960. The book was the subject of a famous court case in 1960, which found that it was not obscene, and therefore could be published, because it had literary merit.

[smakkabagms]

“Each soul departing with its own isolation, / Strangest of all companions, / And best” DH Lawrence

[virgin-martyr]

What? — your throat is bruised, bruised with my kisses? Ah, but if I am cruel what then are you? I am bruised right through.

D. H. Lawrence, excerpt from "A Bad Beginning"