A Whole New Marriage of Mind and Matter - D. H. Lawrence and Modernism

A Whole New Marriage of Mind and Matter

&nbsp;&nbsp;The modernism of D. H. Lawrence differs from that of "high" modernists such as James Joyce or Virginia Woolf. To be sure, Lawrence, like other so-called modernists, committed himself to the Poundian "make it new" project that involved rejecting conventional realism however, he was not wholly satisfied with contemporary modernism. The advent of the Kodak camera and the X-ray and the spread of the "spirit of relativity" as presented by Walter Pater had influenced contemporary artists to such a degree that Lawrence gave up "copying" reality. But he was also against contemporary modernists because they suffered from solipsism caught in the wall of the ego, thought Lawrence, they ignored reality altogether. Instead, Lawrence hoped for "a whole new marriage of mind and matter" and "a new grasp of substantial reality." To this end, he postulated two epistemological requirements: "all-aroundness," a concept that differed from the mere accumulation of fragments as expressed in typical modernist novels, and "insideness," a concept that related to the realm beyond external reality. Thus, this essay portrays Lawrence as "a new modernist" who even attempted to make modernism "new."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Hoping to shed light on both Lawrentian modernism and modernism in general, the following work centers on Lawrence&quot;s critique of conventional realism and contemporary modernism. It addresses two key questions: "what is reality" and "how can it be grasped?" The discussion below is based on several of Lawrence&quot;s essays, but "Introduction to These Paintings" will be highlighted as itcontains many interesting insights on modern art. In addition, Women in Love, Lawrence&quot;s most "modern" work, will be referred to, when necessary, though a detailed analysis of the novel must await separate treatment.