Psychology in Lawrence's "Movements in European History"

Abstract

Every chapter, suffer before begin, because do loathe broken part of historical facts. But once can get hold of thread of developing significance, then am happy, and get ahead. Thus D. H. Lawrence wrote on 23 January 1919 to Mrs. Nancy Henry, apropos of his work on Movements in European History. He added: I am rather pleased with it; there is a clue of developing meaning running through it: that makes it real to me (Lawrence, Letters 466). Lawrence was pleased chiefly, no doubt, because he was able to satisfy his imagination by relating movements of history to deep impulses or instincts which he took to be fundamental in human psyche and which he had already discussed at length in Study of Thomas Hardy, Crown, and other essays. As James C. Cowan, James T. Boulton, and other critics have pointed out, Lawrence's seminal idea in Movements is that mankind lives by a twofold motive: motive of peace and increase, and motive of contest and martial triumph. As soon as appetite for martial adventure and triumph in conflict is satisfied, appetite for peace and increase manifests itself, and vice versa. It seems a law of life (306). Boulton points out, further, that these two motives are love and power motives which Lawrence refers to in such works as Aaron's Rod and The Ladybird (viii). He might have added that they are also and impulses that Lawrence defined in Psychoanalysis and Unconscious as deepest motives of unconscious mind. The alternation of sympathetic impulse to peace and unison with voluntary impulse to conflict and division constitutes basic Action and Reaction, great To and Fro of history. The problem Lawrence faced, in describing great movements of European history in getting hold of the thread of developing significance was that of isolating and defining in every movement sympathetic forces or races and opposing voluntary forces or races; and then of assessing, at every period of history, relative strength and tendency of sympathetic and voluntary needs.