Ontological Incoherence in Women in Love

Abstract

The goal of classical ontology is to explain being or reality in terms of universally consistent first principles. But there are examples of subsequent ontologies whose first principles are not in harmony with each other, but instead are reciprocally antagonistic. In such cases, the ontology is incoherent. Even as Lawrence presupposes mind-body dualism, he revolutionizes the conception of its opponent terms. The problem of incoherence entails the problem of time--a topic that can be illuminated by comparing Lawrence with Bergson. Whereas Bergson, through the concept of duration, foregrounds the process of continuous accretion or development, Lawrence foregrounds the striving for definitive disconnection from that which has been accumulated. At bottom, Birkin seeks not the intimacy of interpersonal love, but connection with the impersonal creative principle. He does this through seeking satisfaction in new forms of love relationship, beyond those which he has already created and achieved.