Abstract
This paper examines posthumanism concepts in D. H. Lawrence’s short stories written in the 1920s which refer to the late period of the writer’s oeuvre: The Border Line (1924), The Woman Who Rode Away (1925), Sun (1926) and In Love (1927). The study contemplates the coalescence of Lawrence’s protagonists with the natural environment in the aforementioned novellas. Environmental theme in Lawrence’s short stories is regarded in the context of posthumanism aspect. The writer’s perspective of a posthuman is studied as well. Scientific works by Jeff Wallace (D. H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman), Cary Wolfe (What is posthumanism?) and Donna Haraway’s essay (A Cyborg Manifesto) were scrutinied as a basic tool to evidentiate the relentless curiosity to D. H. Lawrence’s oeuvre nowadays. By means of the concept ‘natural environment’ Lawrence tells about true values: harmony with oneself, harmonious relationships and mutual understanding between man and woman. In the alliance with environment, Lawrence prophesies the birth of a new, emotionally renovated human being. Posthumanism ideas help Lawrentian protaginist find contentment and a state of happiness. A change in human being’s attitude to himself/herself as well as to the society when uniting with natural environment is evident in the writer’s short stories.
Highlights
One can suppose that the writer was inspired by New Mexico as he said in New Mexico Magazine in 1936: “In the magnificent fierce morning of New Mexico one sprang awake, a new part of the soul woke up suddenly, and the old world gave way to a new” [13]
New Mexico’s environment, its caves and its mysterious aborigines, reflecting his feelings in the stories, some of which were included in the third collection of the short stories The Woman Who Rode Away (1928)
Having spent only eleven months in New Mexico, he was deeply impressed by its sheer beauty landscapes
Summary
The protagonists in Sun (1926), The Border Line (1924), and The Woman Who Rode Away (1925) long for love and individual happiness. Lawrence’s short stories Sun, The Border Line and The Woman Who Rode Away reflect the inner condition of the main protagonists in the reunion with the natural environment.
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