Une identité de carbone : lecture lawrencienne des romans de Thomas Hardy

Abstract

The Study of Thomas Hardy is one of the most misunderstood Lawrencian works, but at the same time it is one of the most influential. Hardy is not a mere pretext that the writer uses to discuss his metaphysics and aesthetics – as many critics have claimed: Lawrence writes on Hardy in order to understand himself. A subtle analysis of the Wessex novels allows him to name the new subject he attempts to describe, the unconscious. In the famous “carbon identity letter”, D. H. Lawrence detects a chemical element that is more valuable than the diamond itself, because it represents the true nature of human beings, something that underlies their actions and feelings, which is “non-human, in humanity”: an unrecognizable ego. According to Virginia Woolf, there is “a little blur of unconsciousness” in Hardy’s Novel, as if he were not cognizant of the implications of his writing, leaving “for his readers to make out his full meaning and to supplement it from their own experience”. From Thomas Hardy’s lesson, Lawrence learns the worth and the danger of metaphysics, inheriting the two great themes that shape his literary production, the human psyche and sexual dimension. The bound that ties these two eminent writers is deeper than a simple relation between master and disciple: both of them break with tradition and produce better works when the unconscious drives their actions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the complex relationship, shedding new light on Hardy’s novels in order to appreciate his “state of soul”.