Windows to the sun: D. H. Lawrence's "thought adventures"

Abstract

Windows to the Sun: D. H. Lawrence's 'Thought-Adventures' illustrates some of the ways in which Lawrence's ideas were before their time as he sought to look beyond the 'umbrella' of his current age to truths that were still beyond it. From his insights he developed a philosophy of relative and contingent realities, in which diversity was a prime value. This concept was partly related to his understanding of an Einsteinian 'pluralistic universe' as well as to principles of Cubist art. But the title attempts to combine his 'windows' passage with an idea of computer windows to suggest variety in the essays. Each contributor works with Lawrence's mature art, from Women in Love through Lost Girl, Aaron's Rod, and Kangaroo, and from Studies in Classic American Literature and Memoir of Maurice Magnus to Pansies and Sketches of Etruscan Places. Contributors are international scholars, including four editors of the Cambridge Lawrence Edition and representing five countries. The Cambridge sources embody the most recent textual scholarship, and critical references include theoreticians like Gilles Deleuze, Theodor Adorno, and Judith Butler.