The Ritualization of Emotions in Quetzalcoatl and The Plumed Serpent

Abstract

As D. H. Lawrence’s writings show, the much romanticized prospect of travelling to America derived from the love/hate relationship between the author and his homeland. However, his urge to leave his native country and take the eastern route to America was also fuelled by a nagging preconception of a primeval world that foreign lands were thought to harbour. His letters and poems give ample evidence of this pursuit, and so does a novel such as Aaron’s Rod (1922), in which Lilly, Aaron’s mentor...