The Annex-Metaphor and the Nature of the 'Blind Self' in D. H. Lawrence’s “England, My England”

Abstract

The article explores D. H. Lawrence’s technique of portrayal in the short story “England, My England” (1921) by applying the key terms annex-metaphor and “blind self” to Egbert, the central male character. The former term is coined by the author of the article as a means of understanding Lawrence’s treatment of his protagonist’s inner life. With the help of the daughter figure, the British author manages to shape the abstract character of notions, and to produce a figurative, volatile version of the father’s psyche. The latter concept, “blind self,” belongs to Lawrence himself, and can be transferred, the paper argues, from one character to another in the process of uncovering Egbert’s metaphorically shaped responses to different types of environment: the mystical, the social, the political. The idea of blindness is materialized as attraction towards nature, as denial of society or, on the contrary, as denial of the self, and, last but not least, as automatic response to the whims of history and national politics.