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ROSEリポジトリいばらき (茨城大学学術情報リポジトリ)
Title EGO AND THE COSMOS : ON D.H.LAWTENCE
Author(s) SUWABE, hitoshi
Citation 茨城大学人文学部紀要. 文学科論集(2): 41-60
Issue Date 1968-12-14
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10109/8928
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危GO AND蛍HE COSMOS一〇ND. H. LAWRENCE一
Hitoshi Suwabe
l Sex is the great unifier・
Can the heart ever beat quite alone~Plop!Plop!Can the heart beat
quite alone, alone in all the atmosphere, all the space of the universe P PIop~
Plop~Plop!Quite alone in all the space~(∠4αγoη’∫1~ooらchap.17)
The lifb of D. H. Lawrence was a long journey in search of』a genu五ne
relationship between isolated individuals. He could not bear the sight of every
individual existing all alone, cut off f士om each other in the wide universe.
Considering it the greatest malady of our time, he tried, through his whole
lifb, to discover the way to help asunder individuals out of such wretched
conditions. And he fbund in‘sex’the l)est remedy against the modern malady.
He was not a pornographer. On the contrary, he waS the most ardent healer
imaginable of the modern ages. His ardour as a healer was such that he even
set himself up as another Christ.
It has been the overwhelming tide of the modern ages to emancipate indi一
viduals f止om every restraint and establish their independence. Hamlet,s admi・
ration,“What a piece of work is a man!”must be the typical cry of wonder
people of the Renaissance gave on discovering the splendour of a hu卑an be五ng.
Mediaeval world-vision has been completely converted into humanism, which
has insisted on centering every attention upon man himse1£As man gets
disenthralled f士om one bondage after a⑳ther, so much happier would he
become. He ought to be the happiest who is completely f}eed frorn every
● 9窒?唐狽窒撃モ狽撃盾氏D
42
D.H. Lawrence could not help entertalning a grave doubt about this prev一
alent belie£ To him, every one seemed to be a mere fねgment wh五ch is
noating in the wide universe, hating every connection with others and trying
with might and main to win its independence. But can a fragment become
happy when it has at last won i亡s f士eedom and independenceP A fragment is ’
essentially so made that it can not live on in separateness. Modern ages, which
have aimed at emancipation of men from any restraint, have cut off all
fragmentary egos from each other, and deceitfhlly named each of them‘micro・
cosm,. It is only an illusion that fragmentary egos can・be independent andr hapPy at once・Lawrence’s v三ew of man was just contrary to the current one 1
of the present.‘These fragments I have shored against my ruins,’sang T. S.
Ellot in“The Waste Land”, but to Lawrence‘I myself am a fragment,,
aga五nst which nothing can be fbund to shore.
‘Self, self, self...that’s all it is with them.’(∠4α70η’3 Ro4, chap.1)He
could not put up with people striving by all means to expand their ffagmentary
ego. Persisting in emallcipation of individuals, modern ages have produced
thousands and thousands of people whose interests are fbcused on nothing but
fbstering their own ego.(We must at this polnt remember that nobody could
be so great an egotist as Lawrence, whose favorite rnotto,‘Noli me tangere,
would be the most eloquent proof of his hatred fbr the intrusion of others ℃
on his own ego. It might be said that the sight of other egos expanding
rampantly was extremely repulsive to him in spite of, or rather, because
of his being a great egotist・)One paragraph from an essay“We Need One
Another”clarifies his view of man and lifb.
As a fixed o切ect, even as an individuality or a personality, no human
being, man or woman, amounts to much. The great I AM does not apply
to human beings, so亡hey may as we111eave it alone. As soon as anybody,
man or woman, becomes a great I AM, he becon再es nothing. Man or woman,
each is a刊ow, a f豆owing lifヒ. And without one another, we can’t flow, just
as a river cannot flow without banks. A woman is one bank of the river
of my Ii琵, and the world is the other. Without the two shores, my llfε
■
Ego and the Cosmos-On D. H. Lawrence- 43
would be a marsh. It is the relationship to woman, and to my fbUowme鍛,
which makes mb myself a river of lifヒ.
Every individual seems to him to be nothing but a drop of water floa伽g
量nthe great sea of I.ifb, and each is crying Ioudly fbr its freedom and inde一
pendence in spite of its f士agmentariness- is this not a farce~At the same
time, however, it is a tragedy, because a drop of water is sure to dry up the
moment it has got out of the sea and acquired its independence. No individ一
uals can expect to l1ve a human lifヒonce out of the stream of L量fb, which,
to our regret, has been growing thinner and thinner in our time. In addition
to it, we are so much surrounded by‘1ifb・substitute’(1)in Stead of Lifb itself,
that the flow of Life is now in danger of drying up. To live is to bathe in
the stream of I.ifb, into which we can be led only by sex. Lawrence’s‘sex’
cann。t b・舳lly und…t・・d unless it is seen丘・m thi・p・int・f・i・w・Thi・
angle enables us tq grasp what Spender means when he says,‘...in sex
Lawrence is seeking fbr something beyond sex.,(7偽6 C7θα励6 E♂8η26ηあchap.
5)Lawrence expects us to find the stream of Lifb in sex, without which it is
impossible fbr us to bathe in the刊ow.
Dictionaries tell us that・sex, is derived丘om‘secare’, a Latin word meaning
‘to cut’. To cut丘om what P Platon says that man and woman were origina11y
one body, which was af㌃erwards cut in two, so that each of them三s eager to
regain the fbrmer complete condition by binding itself w五th the other. There
量sno denying that we are cut off from each other, butat the same time it is
also true that we, man and woman, can unite with each other in sex.‘Sex is
the great unifier.,(A ProPOS ・f乙⑳Chatterlげs Lover)Indeed, in sex Lawrence
is seeking fbr something beyond sex...that is, the stream of Lifヒ, or the
unif五er of individuals, Voyant Lawrence!
@ 2
@ _一_1,11caU it 7「〃z4θ7η6∬- the novel.
A・Wψve・een in th・p・evi・u・ch・pter, L・Vr・p¢サ和un4 iキ・t・a琴・dゆτ き
44
human beings to be cut off ffom each other, and he f五rmly believed‘sex, to
be the most effbctual remedy fbr their helpless separateness. The sight of each
individual existing in complete isolation was too heart・rending fbr him, but it
was also an undeniable fact that he could not tolerate the counterfbit love
between modern fragmentary egos. It maddens or kills sex in the individua1・
1110rder to make it genuine, the individual must be,∬rst of all, whole and
perfect. No perfbct love can be expected to grow l)etween imperfbct individ“als.
Let there be clean and pure division first, perfected singleness. That is
the only way to final, living unison:through sheer, finished singlelless.
(∠4α70η,5Roゴ, chap. l l)
‘Noli me tangere,, was his sincere cry to refuse the制se relationshiかwith
others. Touch me not while I am a man of the earth, earthy. We must be
transfbrmed into perfヒct individuals before we can cry,‘Touch me., He was
filled w三th nausea at thc sight of defbctivc individuals sticking together. His
essays are abundandn contemptuous words at Democracy and Socialism and
Communism.(‘Communism is a bubble.,) Deceit制relationships under the
guise of true fbllowsh至p inflamed him with rage.(2)It is selfevident that the
society made up of sticky and defbctive individuals should turn out to be
adefbct五ve society. Begin with an ind三vidual!Lawrence is one of those who
believe that to b血ild a good society we must start‘from the innermost, not
6rom the outside.,
Then, the next question is, how to establish a new relationship between the
individuals who have undergone severe singleness and got ready to fbrm a rea1、
relationship.
There must be brotherly love, a wholeness of humanity. But there must
also be pure, separate individuality, separate and proud as a lion or a hawk.
There must be both. In the duality lies fUlfilment.... These two move.
ments are opposite, yet they do not negate g3ch other, We h耳veμnαers卿尋一 セ L
ing.(“Love,”) 尾. ノ
Eg・a・d・h・C・・m・・-0・D・H・L・w・en・e- 45
Under、t。ndi。g。f wh・t P H・・h・uld h・v・w・itt・n・‘I h・v・und…t・nding・’As
he exp1,in・n・thi・g wh・t・v・・ab・ut th・fulfilm・nt・f th・du・lity・we a「e
@ ● 、Bblig,d t・・u・mi・e wh・t i・th・・ec・et t・b・1・nce perfectly th・tw・°PP°slte
m。v。m。nt、. Hi、 essay、 and n・v・1・lead・・t・・h・i・・evi・・ble c・n・lu・i・n th・t th・
secret is・sex,・or, in a mental word,‘tenderness,・(3)
・T。nd。,ness・is si。。 qu・n・n if i・・1・t・d・g・・a・e t…t・bli・h a real rel・ti・n・
、hip with each・th・・with・ut 1・・ing th・i・int・g・al i・di・idu・lity・F・equent uses
of・tender・and ・tenderness・can be fbund in the works of his later years・
The novel in which these words are most significantly used is, without doubt,
幼伽吻・・L蝋whi・h i・n・…i・u・f・・its轟・b・ccni・y’・1m・・t・ll°ve「
th。 w。,ld, n。t。xcepting J・p・n. It i・,・n the c・nt・a・y,・n・v・1・f‘t・nd・・ness㍉
。。d。,v。, i、 it。n。v。1。f・。b、cenity・. Thi・n・v・l w・・at fi・・t i・t・nd・d t・b・
call。d乃。伽,∬,。, L。w.ence w,。t・・4)t・hi・d・v・t・d f・i・nd C・C…w・ll・‘1’ll
call it 7「診η46γηθ∬_the nover. In the same letter he says,
Iwrote a novel last winter, and rewrote it fbr the third time this-and
i・・、v。.y。“助imp・・pe卜・h・1…w・・d・in・ll i・・mea・i・g・!…but
very・,uly m・・aL A w・m・n in Fl・・en・e・aid・h・’d・yp・i・一・nd・h・’・d°ne
5。h。pt…-n・w tum・d m・d・w・・S・ys she can’tg・・ny角・the「・t°°
indecent. Dirty bitch 1(Italicized by Lawrence.)
Which was indecent, Lawrence or the woman in Florence P She must have
,e舳,ed with・9。。d・en・e…type any fu・・her,・nd・h・w・・call・d‘Di・ty bit・h!’
1。th。 m。,ality・f・ex L・w・ence w・・n・w・t・ndi・g・n the antip・d…f・
9。。d・i・izen.1・w・・thi・fi・m b・li・f in伽decen・y・h・・…wn・d him with th・
fame as one of the first・rate novelists in this century.
●`t・ny・at・,五吻伽’吻’・伽・i・‘…yt・uly m・・al’・・nd it・th・me ls ● .・tenderness’, though it may disapPoint many people who are golng to enJoy a
n。t6,i。u,・P。,n・9・aphy・. The auth・・w・・t・it with m・・al int・nt三・n・・nd if
it reads obscene, the fault should lie with readers, not with the author. In this
n。v,I L。w,ence att・mpt・d t・d・・c・ib・th・ideal t・nder rel・ti・n・hip b・tween
CQ興nie and M今llors, whlφWas, La曜enc母believed, nowhere to be four唄頭 .
戸
・46
・except in the wofld of sex. Connie and Mellors fdl in love when each found
写tenderness’in重he other. Connie’s relations with men had been(luite disappoint・
ing as well as Mellors, previous rnarriage. They had both been thlrsty fbr
‘tendemess,. When they chanced to meet, the barrier between the ladyship and
the gamekeeper was as good as nothing to them. The questions and answers
between Connie and her sister H量lda goes on thus;
‘‘co you want‡o tell me who he is,”she said.
‘‘ge’s our gamekeeper,”faltered Connie, and she flushed vividly, like
ashamed child.
‘‘bonnie!”said Hilda, lifting her nose slightly with disgust;amotlon
she had from her mother.
“Iknow:but he’s lovely, really. He really understands tenderness,”
said Connie, trying to apologize fbr him. (Chap.16)
Next is Mellors’guileless adoration fbr Connie.
‘‘hstand fbr the touch of bodily awareness between human beings ,
he said to himsel£“andεhe touch of tenderness。 And she is my mate.
And it is a battle against the money, and the machine, and the insentient
ideal monkeyishness of the world....Thank god she’s a tender, aware
,,翌盾高≠氏E 「 (Chap。18)
None could deny that it is‘tenderness’which binds the solitary man and
woman together. They are narrowly kept by‘tenderness’f}om制ling in to the
Slough of Despond, just as Lαのα観6γ砂’s Loz,〃is narrowly saved by‘ten一
derness’貸om the disgrace of a pornography.・Tenderness’means to them the
dir㏄t touch and warm embrace of their lives. Their hatred fbr modern love
would result丘om the absen㏄of・tenderness・. In the name of・10ve’most
people seem to be struggling to impose their ego on their lover.‘Tendemess’
is the alternative to modern‘10ve’, which Lawrence put fbrward in order to
サstabliSh a human and genuin雫rサ1a‡ionship betwe印moderns. People withouΨ ■ 劇
Ego and the Cosmos-On D. H. tawrence- 47
@ 昏
‘tenderness, are as good as dead.‘Tenderness’is, as it were, a reviver of our
dying fire of Lifヒ. It is only too natural that C旺ffbrd, who has lost his sexua1
power in the war, should seem‘to sit there like a skeleton, sending out a
skeleton’s cold grizzly ω歪11 against her’.(Chap.13. Italicized by Lawrence.)
Chffbrd has lost not only the sexual power but‘tenderness, in the war, for a
sexlesS man can not be‘tender,, no matter how lovely and amorous he may
be.(5)
Connie and Mellors, who are attracted to each other by‘tendernes8’, c耳n
find a peacefhl refuge only in the wood, which is one of the unravished
places among the ravished world, and they are compelled to bear・the brunt
of attacks from all sides, not only from people of‘good senser but fyom the
faint shuffling noise of Stacks Gate colliery that never ceases working.
But they will be the last couple to admit that they are the solitary and
perishing outcasts. They seem to bel五eve themselves to be another Adam and
Eve of a new human species, whose golden rule must be‘To be tender.’
‘‘gow nice!”she said.
“Quite nice!To contemplate the extermination of the human species
and the long pause that fbllows before some other species cross up, it、
calms you more than anything else.”(Chap.15)
To them the extermination of the human species seems the inevitable end
unless they change their way of l五ving and keep the stream of Lifb and
・tenderness’fナom drying up. Jesus is sometimes called‘the second Adam’;
Mellors may be called‘the th五rd Adam’, though the honour will be most read一
ily accepted by Lawrence himself, who likes to pose as another Christ.
When a thunder is crashing, modern Adam and Eve are sitting in the hut of
the wood, listening to the storm. Eve ruminates it is like being‘in a Iittle ark
in the Food.’(6) The allusion is obviously to the Flood in the Genes三s, in
which all of the human beings were drowned excepting Noah’s family in the
Ark. If the storm should continue‘forty days and fbrty nights’to ann量hilate
all the h紬an beings but modern Adam and Eve!Modern Adam and Eve~
48
「hey may be much more properly named John Thomas and Lady Jane. A
new human species, John Thomas and Lady Jane as their Adam and Eve!
LαのC%観θ7Zξゾ3 Loo67 is a sort of上aurentian Genesis.
‘Tenderness’, as Lawrence maintains, means the direct touch and warm em一
brace of Lives, so that it is no wonder anything that interrupts the smooth flow
of ILifb should turn him away in disgust. But, where can we be f士ee丘om
such interrupters in the modern world P We are surrounded on all sides by
‘1ifヒーsubstitutes,’no matter where we may go.
αvilization may be defined as a process to build up‘the walls that shut
1ifb in’.(7)Though the walls may shut Lifb in, they act at the same time as
the guard to protect Lifb from intruders. They are, as it were, the double一
edged sword・1」awrence thinks・however, that they are now suffbcating Lifb ’
itself, instead of guarding it・His hatred fbr anything that kills ]Life-i. e.
anti・lifb- is very fierce and deep-rooted.
‘New houses, new fUrniture,.new streets, new clothes, new sheets
everything new and machine-made sucks lifb out of us
and makes us cold, makes us lifbless
the more we have。,
(‘‘New Houses, New Clothes...”)
He cannot but admit that‘anti・lifヒ, is now getting more and more bulky to
extend its Iife・sucking sway over us. It is indeed a grave danger;but the more
grave danger is that we ourselves are gradually metamorphosing to‘anti-1ifヒ’
creatures. This crisis can be most clearly seen in the increase of‘1-lt’relations,
to use the term of a Jewish philosopher Martin Buber. From his point of
view, the world is composed of‘r,‘Thou’and‘It,, and‘r cannot exist by
三tself.‘1’comes into being either in the‘1-Thou’relation or in the‘1-lt, rela一
tion.‘Thou’is a human and inviolable existence fbr‘1,, while‘It, is an impersonal
and utilizable existence fbr‘1,. The decay of‘1・Thou, relation and the increase
of that of‘1-It’must be one of the most characteristic symptoms of dehumaniza・
tion in the m6(迩ern world. Lawrence hates the‘1・It’relation(8)which is preva一
Ient almost all over the Western countries, hence D. H. Lawrence as a voluntary
Ego and the Cosmos-On D. H. Lawrence-・ 49
exile from Europe. To him the industrial civilization itself seems to be the
greatest and most typical embodiment of the‘1-lt, relation. His‘civilization
of touch’,(9)‘blood・relation’and, of course,‘tenderness, are obviously meant
fbr the anti・theses to the dehumanizing relations.. An individual can not be
agenuine human being until he gets out of the‘1・lt, relation and enters into
the‘1・Thou, relation. He must go through an agony of death befbre he
becomes a new self.
And die the death, the long and painful death
that lies between the old self and the new.(‘‘The Ship of Death.,,)
@ 「
3 _Iam risen.
乃θMαη向疏01)げ64is, though not long, a well・balanced and well・condensed
masterpiece. Lifb・long themes of the author are very vividly expressed in this
story. Its original title was乃θE56ψθ4006ん, which was changed by English
and American publishers to emasculated 7腕6ルfαηレ既o∠)’θ諾ApParently the
obscene sense of‘cock’(10)made them hesitate to use it as a title. But this
、t。.y is s・・bund・nt i・d・uble ent・nd・e・th・t th…igin・l tit1・・whi・h i・it・elf
double entendre, is much more suitable for it than the altered one.
Of course Lawrence is not responsible for this castrated title.
This story beglns with the description of a peasan重,s sprightly gamecock
who breaks the string and crows a loud crow on the top of the wa11・None
can deny that this丘eed cock is an apparent theme of this story. The resurrected
man,上aurentian Christ, comes across this cock, and he is‘roused by the shrill,
wild crowning of a cock just near him, a sound which made him shiver・as if
electricity had touched him’. It is this cock that awakes in him the greater
1ifb of the body.‘How hot he is with lifb!’wonders the man who died at
the vitality of the cock. And when he leaves the peasant’s house, the cock’s
owner gives it to the man who died for a piece ofmoney and under his arm,
as he goes, he carries the cock. Christ with the cock under his arm. What a
50
prof義ne image it is!Indeed it is a profane but l三fe-bubbling image of Christ
who has resurrected in the flesh.
In the second part, the encounter of the man who died w五th the priestess of
1Pr三s brings him a keen realization that her tender touch三s more to him than
all his words he preached befbre he died. After some hesitation he gives up
his motto,‘Noli me tangere’, and yields up himself to the tender touch of
Lifb with her. The Saviour Christ is now saved丘om thc‘death in life’by
her tender touch. His wonder・stricken words at the sight of the naked fullness
of the woman,‘On this rock I built my lifb., and‘I am risen!’are both allu一
sive to the Bib董e, though they are given non・Biblical and Laurentian import.
‘On this rock I built my life’, reminds us of words of Christ,‘That thou
art Peter,(11)and upon this rock I will build my church.’(Matt.16:18)Christ
built his church upon the rock, and I」aurentian Christ built his church of
Lifb upon‘the sof㌃whitc rock’. This may safdy be said to be the highest
expression of’Lawrence,s antipathy against Jesus christ・But next comes the
more profane expression,‘I am risen!’Th量s rcfbrs, of course, to Christ’s rising
from the dead the third day, but in this context the most sexual image of
Christ inevitably rises in our m三nd. He is now‘a man, in the Laurentian
sense. This must be thc most profane double entendre of all. It m量ght be
said that in乃6ルf〃2確加1万64 Lawrence jibes at Chr三st to his satisfaction.
After he‘knew’her and‘the cQntact was perfヒcted and fUlfilled’, he fbels
the time fbr him to depart approaching. He is going away行om the priestess
of Iris, who is now‘with young’by him. But he will not be alone any longer,
長)r,once‘tender touch’has brought them into the‘1・Thou’relation, the spatial
distance will be as good as nothing to them.‘I shall come again, sure as
spring’.‘The suns come back in their seasons:and I sha11 come again,.‘Spring,
and‘the sun’have been symbols of rebirth and return allnost all over the
world from time immemorial. They are as old as the hills. His return is as
sure as sure can be.(Here we must remember that the pheonix, which is used
by Lawrence as his own symbol, rises ffom the ashes of its own to l五ve another
cycle, so that it knows no death fbrever.) This story ends with a very beau一
tiful murmur,‘So let the boat carry me. Tomorrow is another day’. The boat
ρ 「
Ego and the Cosmos-On D. H. Lawrence- 51
will carry him far away into the sea, where the first Lifb was bom and
nourished. He is now floating in the midst of the sea-Mother of Lifb.
It seems that I.awrence, who believed himself to be a saviour of mankind,
constantly had the image of Christ on his mind, because Christ is called the
Saviour and’to the would・be saviour He must be the greatest rival conceivable.
Lawrence,1ike Nietzsche, posed and regarded himself as an antichrist, as is
clearly seen in his later works.(12)His self:conceit fbund fUll vent in 2%6
ルfαπ躍乃01万64,in which Lawrence, making the most of the obscure part of
the New Testament af㌃er His resurrect量on, went so far as to identify himself
wi寸h Christ and convert Him to Lawrence,s, so to speak, religion of Lifb. In
this story Christ∫5 a fbol of Lawrence. But which is in very truth a perfbct
fbol P
An antichrist is a strange being, for, though he may seize every opportunity
to throw stones at Him, his greatness as an antichrist depends wholly on how
丘ercely and thoroughly he censures and attacks Jesus christ, and his raison
d’etre comes, it may be said,丘om Christ Himself. It is the consciousness of
Christ’s greatness that drives him into protesting and rebelling against the
Saviour. In a word, an antichrist could not live withouf Christ, as the most
殆ithful Christians can not without Him. Though it may sound very stra血ge,
Lawrenceωα3 a Christian, in the same sense that Nietzsche, Blake and other
antichrists were. All of them must have had the image of Christ more con・
stantly on their mind than common Christians. They must have wanted them・
selves to be a giant as great as Jesus christ, but they could only become His
epigones. Lawrence confesses in spite of himself that he is a mere epigo血e of
Christ, as fbllows;
If I had lived in the year 400, pray God, I should have been a true and
passionate Chr三stian....But now I live in l 924, and the Christian venture
is done. The adventure is gone out of Christianity. We must start on a new
venture towards God. (‘‘Books”)
N・蜘・ゆ・wwarm1γh・m・γP・・t・・t・g・i・・‡Chri・ti・nitγ・h・尊ぐvサ・4・恥
52
His Sermon of Love, wh量ch seems to be the core of Christian量ty. What he
protests against is not His Sermon of Love, but modern counterfbit love under
the name of Christian love.‘All love today is counterfbit. It is a stereotyped
thing.’(13) ‘Love’is now dying. To regenerate it, he puts fbrward‘tenderness,,
with which counterfbit love, he w量shes, should be replaced.‘Tenderness’is, as it
were, a revised version of the original Christ’s Love.
What matters, however, is not to repeat the sermon,‘To be tender,’time
and again, but to tell‘how’to be tender. How can we be tender to each other~
His answer is as fbUows;
Oh,. what a catastrophe, what a maiming of love when it was made
apersona1, merely personal fbeling, taken away fナom the rising and the
setting of the sun, and cut off丘om the magic connexion of tbe solstice
and the equhlox!This is what is the matter with us.
(・41)roPosげ五α砂αα彦’θ7♂ξゾ3 Lover.)
In short, we cannot be tender so long as we are rnere丘agments of the cosmos.
Now begins 60∫η2010即at last!Not a fbw readers and critics of Lawrence L狽浮窒氏@on their heels at this point,負)r f士om hcre on none can proceed with his
enlightened reason. It is an esoteric world into which only those are admitted
who can‘think with their blood’.(14) And the esoteric world is the world of
the‘Apocalypse,’two essays on which were written within a f℃w months of
h三sdeath and can be thought to be his last book of prophecy.
4 -Iam the Macrocosm.
£awrence,s interest in the Apocalypse was‘lifblong, from the days of his
childhood in the miners’bethe1’(15)to the last months when his disease was
ρon5uming him?The‡wo essays on‡he皐evela‡ion, in which his llfdong an4㌧ L 1
Ego and the Cosmos_On D. H. Lawrence- 53
extraordinary interest in it is plainly displayed, were both published posthu・
mously. one is a short essay published in」Loη40ηルf676πび(issue of July
1930)under the name of‘‘lntroduction”, which is composed of some five
thousand words, and the other is a longer one published in l931 as an
independent volume, under the title of 4ρ06αひρ56.
He began to write on the Apocalypse as an introduction to his friend Fred・
●?窒奄モ求@Carter’s 1)7αgoηgブ彦乃θ4ρ06ψρ56, but he came to lay aside the manuscrlpt
since‘it became so long and somehow unsuitable’(16)fbr an introduction. In
stead of it he wrote in great haste a much shorter introduction・which was
published in 」乙oη40η Mθγ6πッ.(Strangely enough, F. Carter’s 」Dアαgoη(iヅ疏θ
4ρ06αζ乃ρ58was published later without Lawrence’s introduction.) It was on
the l5th of December in l929 that Lawrence wrote to F. Carter,‘I have
roughly finished my introduction.’What he called‘my introduction’in the
1etter was the longer essay which he came to abandon and was made public
after his death as 4ρ06α勿う∫6. After finish三ng‘my introduction’he began to
write the real‘Introduction’published in Loη40ηルf6γ6πリノ.
From these facts we can draw a conclusion that the two essays on the
Ap・calyp・e were w・itt・n・uccessi・・ly,・nd th・t with・ut・ny i・t・・v・1・(L・wrence
died on the 2nd of March,1930.)Everyone will think that the two essays
,盾氏@the Apocalypse written in succession must be as like as two peas ln purport.
Far ffom such a surmise, however, these are so antipodal to each other that
we cannot be!ieve them to have been written by one pen. Such a great
●モ盾獅狽窒≠р奄モ狽奄盾氏@may be allowed only to a genlus・
Now that death is only a few months away, the essay seems to have been
written, consciously or unconsciously, as his will. It abounds with his soaring
im・gin・ti・n・and li色1・ng d・eam・. Any・n・wh・・xp・ct・t・find・・tudi・u・int…
o垂茶マtation of the Apocalypse in it will be utterly disappointed without exceptlon.
o ● ● ●
hf it(=the Apocalypse)1eads to a release of the lmaglnatlon lnto some
new sort of world, then let us be thankful, fbr that is what we want. It
matters so litt豆e to us who care rnore abou口ifb than about scholarship, what
15corTect orΨhζt is no‡corr皐ct? (‘‘In㌻ro“uc‡ion,’♪
. n
In this way he dares to create his own Cosmos out of the old astrologica1
symbols fbund in the Apocalypse.‘‘Introduct量on”may be considered to be a
typical example of a nonsensical misreading. But every one is endowed with
the privllege to misread, let alone such a genius as Lawrence. What is the
point of reading, he might say, if our imagination is not st三mulated by it and
our fire of Lifb does not burn the more vigorously fbr itP‘Right or wrong,’
is a secondary problem fbr him, compared to the primary one,‘Alive or
dead.’
Lawrence was first awakened to the pagan and zodiac world of the Apoca・
lypse when he read the manuscript of.D7αgoηげ彦乃6助ooα卵56 wh圭ch F.
Carter, its author, sent to him in l923. The original of the Apocalypse was
the Revelation of the anc量ent world l)efore the ri sing of Christianity, when
human beings and the Cosmos had the organic relation between them, and
mankind was happy in their unification with the Cosmos. The original was
1ater christianized to the present Apocalypse by John of Patmos and other
Johns・(The Apocalypse is generally believed to have been wrゴtten by at Ieast
three or fbur namesakes.)F. Carler’s 1)7αgoηげ読θ・4ρ06αひρ56 treats exclusively
of the original pagan and zodiac world of the Revelation.‘It was confused:
it was, in a sense, a chaos. And it hadn’t very much to do with st. John’s
Revelation.’(17) But that was not the matter with him. Every page, every
chapter of the manuscript released his imagination and brought him to the
ancient astrological world.
… the sense of the living astrolog ical heavens gives me an extension
of my being. I become big and glittering and vast with a sumptuous
vastness. I am the Macrocosm, and it is wonder制.(Ibid.)
‘Iam the Macrocosm!’This may sound the zenith of expanslve delusion, but
it is not a mere play of words;it is a logical conclusion, though a‘10gical
conclusion’may sound the most unsuitable apology fbr Lawrence, who values
women’s‘10gic of emotion’above men’s‘logic of reason’. He believes there is
sμch an organic relation be‡Ween him 3pd thサCosmos as,‘the Vhole is inhサr・
Ego and the Cosmos-On D. H, Lawrence- 55
ent in every part, and vice versa,, fナom which it fbllows that in D. H.
Lawrence the Cosmos must be inherent.
He thinks it a tragedy fbr moderns to live in complete separateness f士om
each other, and in order to help them out of the miserable conditions he puts
我)rward‘sex’and‘tenderness’...though they are not two things but both
sides of one thing. But, however tight they may be bound to each other, can
moderns emerge・ffom their separateness, so long as they rema五n fragments p
Fragments must be forlorn even in company. First of all, they must cease to ,
be fragmentary, and metamorphose themselves into part of the Cosmos. parts
can be unified with each other, while fragments are eternally cut off.
Each man is a‘microcosm’and another cosmos in the Macrocosm:this is
the basic assumption of the modern ages・Lawrence holds just the oPPosite
opinion that each man is either a fragment or part of the Cosmos, and most
of the Ihoderns are, sad to say, no other than f}agments‘Man as a microcosrn,’
or‘man as a ffagment,’this is a decisive fbrked road. One will lead us
to humanism, while the other will probably to the vicinity of totalitarianism.
As fbr Lawrence, regarding most peoPle as f士agmentary, he has fbund the third
way fbr him to proceed along・He bel五eves himself to be part of the Cosmos,
and by the organic relation he has with the Cosmos he can become the Macro一
cosm. This may be the zenith ofhis worship of Lifb. And, at the same time,
the zenith of his egocentrism.‘I am the Macrocosm!’
His self・expanding desire has no limit, as is easily concluded f士om many
parts of his works and biographies. He often shouts,‘Noli me tangere!’to
others, and even poses as another Christ, though not overtly.
There was a long pause. Then Aaron looked up into Ijlly’s face. It was
dark and remote・seeming. It was like a Byzantine eikon at the moment.
“And whom shall I submit to~”
‘‘xour soul will tell you,”replied the other.
And Echo murmured:‘David Herbert Lawrence.’
(Intr・duction to諏70η’∫Ro4. Penguin.)
56
This is the last page of!望α70η’5 Roゴ. But the strange last line is not, of course,
froln the pen of Lawrence. It was Richard Aldington who added the somewhat
spitefhl line to the origina1. Spitefu1, but penetrating addition 量t surely is・
‘Submit to D. H. Lawrence!’Indeed, he eagerly wanted others to submit to
him. He was a natural egocentric. His quarrels and violent behaviours to his
wifb Frieda must have originated f士om his egocentric demand fbr her submi・
ssion. At any rate, it may be said that in‘‘Introduction”Lawrence managed,
after immersing his ego into t恥e Cosmos, to put the finishing touches to his
●?№n¢entrlsm・
Then, why cannot moderns have the organic relations with the Cosmos, as,
Lawrence believed, he had P Because, sighs Lawrence, the Cosmos has changed
to the universe, and the Sun to a spotted ball of gas, the Moon to a dead
globe of extinct volcanoes.‘To know is to lose.... To know is to die.’(18)
In the olden times when man had still his Cosmos, the Cosmos was his Whole
with which he was in organic relations as its part. With the transmutation of
the Cosmos into the universe, man was compelled to degenerate from part of
the Cosmos into a fragment. Willy-nilly most moderns are fragments;this is
the most helpless pestilence of the present days, diagnoses D. H. Lawrence.
Every reader of Lawrence admits that his descriptions of nature are exceed一
ingly fine and sometimes even moving. They could be thought to stand in
proof of his mutual sympathy with nature, or the Cosmos. He might have felt
the movements of the immanent Lifb in the Cosmos through his keenest senses
and recorded them in his works. Even his notorious pages in Lαのαα∫」6γ砂’5
Loo67 might be records of the mutual sympathy between a man as part of
the Cosmos and a woman as such. Once we view from this angle, his‘obscene’
lines may begin to have quite a d五ffbrent meaning.
Such views of man and the universe must sound simply ridiculous to many
people Iiving in the 20th century.‘The attempt to return to primitiveness is both
impractical and, I believe, wrong,’wrote his great friend A. Huxley in」磁穿oη4
彦乃6ルf6κ勾%6β(η. Our enlightened reason whispers to us that Lawrence’s dream
w三ll remain as such forever, so long as a time-machine to reverse the flow
of time is not invented.‘‘Introduction”is stuffbd with such dreams and imagi.
Ego and the Cosmos-On D. H. Lawlence- 57
nations of his, and in addition to童t, we can smeil something ominous「in it.
When we read,
Iwould like to be able to put my ego into the sun, and my person一
ality into the moon, and my character into the planets, and live the
1i琵of the heavens, as the early Chaldeans did.
can’狽翌?唐高?撃撃≠唐撃奄№?狽唐狽?獅モ?@ofdeathP Toputhisego intothe sunand his
of his person. It may be thought that in this essay he has entered into the
world of Thanatos from that of Eros.(Eros and Thanatos are very often
treated as brothers, though they haye no relationship between them in Greek
mythology.)Thanatos was approaching s重ep by step toward Lawrence, when
he cried in raptures,‘I am the Macrocosm!’
Compared with“Introduction,,’4ρ06のρ36 is a much longer and‘academic,
essay, but its tenor is sure to repel most readers. The fbrmer is a beaut漁里
essay in which he is absorbed in relating his own dreams, while in the latter
he vomits scorns, curses and insults at lower classes f士om which he himself has
■窒奄唐?氏D‘‘lntroduction”is written out of sympathy with the pagan and astrological
pages in the Apocalypse, but 4ρooαウρ56 is fu旦10f his ridicule andρontempt
fbr the poor at the bottom of society. Such ridicule. and contempt seem to
come f士om hisviewofman,‘The world is made up of a fbw individuals
and the masses.’(19)Of cohrse, he considers himself one of a fヒw privileged
individuals, and the masses should respect and obey the individuals as their
1 1eaders. The latter pages of the Revelation were meant, says Lawrence, fbr
the revenge of the poor and weak masses upon the individuals.
4ク06αかρ∫θis composed of twenty・three chapters, and thirteen chapters of
them are devoted to the explanation and interpretation of the Revelation, which .
read l五ke i坦partial annotations. But the other chapters, especially the Iast two.
are stuff6d w五th severe swears alld disdain fbr the lpasses. The last chapter
begins thu号, .
58
.aecause, as a matter of fact, when youぎtart to重each individ疑al sdf6
realisation to the great masses of people, who when all is said and done
are onlyノンαgη2∂η彪リノbeings,勿αψαゐ♂60f whol奪individuality, you end
by making,them all envious, grudging, spiteful creatures. Anyone who
is kind to man knows the fragmentariness of most men,、...they are
by nature fragmentary. レ ’
」sh6ugh chr量stianity is of course‘the rdigion of love,』th量s christianity of
the Revelation preaches to the masses nothibg but hatred and vengeance upon
the rich. @and strong. According to him,・Oh, it is the Christianity of the middl・ ,L,
1奄獅〟@masses, this Christianity of the Apocalypsb. and we must confヒs3, it is
b三deous・’(Chap.22)The Revelatlon, he affirms, is the Gospel o F Hatred, so
that it has exerted a more powerfhl influence on the masses than the Gospels
and the Acts of the Apostles.
4ク06α傷ρ36ends with such an imperative sentence;・Start with the sun, and
the rest will sIowly, slowly happen/Apparently the imし 垂?窒≠狽奄魔?@is not addressed
to the masses, who are, Lawrence believes, predestined to be eternal f止agments
and can never become part of the Cosmos. They are a玉ways so deeply intent
on expanding the量r own fragmentariness that an ecstasy to be unified w三th ℃
the Cosmos, and a joyful cry,,I am the Macrocosm!’are denied to them
fbrever. Only a f6w individuals, who are part of the Cosmos, can be in such
abliss. ’
Iam part of a great whole, and I can never escape. But I can deny
my connections, break them, and become a f士agment. Then I am
wretched. (Chap.23)
Lawrence draws a clear distinct五〇n betw・een part(2°)and a丘agment.飾is not
wretched, to be sure. But he says the masses have always been fragments
and will always be so. It is their inevitable destiny. They are desdned to.b6
wretched fbrever and welcome.
P
Ego and the Cosmos-On D. H. Lawrence- 59
Now it has become clear that 4クooαひρ5θis, unexpectedly enough,. a Gospe1 “
く)fHatred of his own against the lnasses. He coldly passes sentence upon them
寸h・tthey mu・t keep f1・・tihg加・tern・1 f・agm・nt・i・th・uni・…e・1ik・th・
wandeゴing Jew, till Doomsday』is curses on the masses耳re ringihg frightfully
一in助96卿∫6 f・・m・qver t… V…
Wh・凶・・ead助・・吻・碗e cann・t h・lp・dmitting・th・ugh it i・ag「eat
P圭ty, th・t D. H. L・w・ence, P・eacher・f‘t・nd・mess’・‘・i・ilizati・n・f t・u・h’・nd
イblood-relation,, is not ffee f士om the cold-blooded‘1・It’relation with the masses.
Does his・tenderness・prevail only in a fヒw individuals, exclus五ve of the ma昌ses P
Does he allow fhe‘1・It, relation to exist between him and the masses P Does
not the cold・heartedness to call everything‘It’, which he detests so severely,
・nestle in his own heart P Does not the stream of Lifヒ, which he valued through・
つut hi、 li琵。b。v。 anything・1・e, fl・w in th・masse・,・ith・・~D…n・t th・ L
.sun, which, according to him, has direct dynamic connection with human
b。i。g・,・hine eq・・11y up・n・h・masse・~D…n・t th・bl・・対…ncerni・g whi・h
‘he said,‘Blood is one blood. We are all of one blood・stream’,(21)run in the
massesP Do not the masses havピaphallus, which he extolled as‘the bridge
.to the future’P(22)
D.H.1.awrence is a genius, and we admit a genius has the privilege to
£ontradict himself, but... ’
.]Notes.
(1)F伽∫毎げ漉6伽…5・泌,・h・p・11
(2)C£・Ib・1三ev・th・・e h・…ver been an ag・・fg・eat・・mi・・ru・t b・tween pe「一
,。n、 th。n。urs t・d・y・under a・・p・・fi・i・1 b・t q・it・g・・ui・…ci・l t・u・t・’
(APr・p・5 Of Ladpt Chatterle2’5 L・ver)
〈3)L。w・encew・…i・・n essay,“Th・S・・t・・f F・・k”・‘A・d i・i・thi・th・tI
want to restQre董nto li驚:just the natural warm flow of common sympathy
between man and man, man and woman.’His‘tenderness’is very similar
to ‘this,. r
〈4)Dated』from villa Mirenda,10 January・1928・
〈5)L。w・ence・ay・in a・essay・W・Need O・・A…h・・”・whi・h b・1・ng・t・hi・
1。、tf。wy・a・・,‘Th・・el・ti・n・hipi・ali琵一1・・g・h・・gea・d・li飼・・g‘t・av・
60 、
ellingドAnd that is sex. At periods, sex-des三re itself departs completely. Yet
the great flow of relat三〇nship goes on all the same, undying, this is the flow
of living sex, the relat圭on between man and woman, that lasts a li琵time,,
and of which sex-desire量s only one vivid, most vivid, manifestatlon., He 雪
admits here that the relation between man and woman can exist without
sex-desire. Then, are we allowedr @to imagine that Clif負)rd could be‘tender》
to Connie even if he was wlthout sexual power?
(6) Chap.15
(7) 2【σπgα700,chap.8
(8) C£‘The child, her child, was just an‘it’to him. It...it...!’(LαのC加’一
’θr1げ∫Lθo〃, chap.5)This sentence至s exceedingly suggestive.
(9> After our industrial civil三zat三〇n has broken, 「
and the civilizat三〇n of touch has begun
war wiH cease, there will be no more wars.
(“Future Wars”in加5彦Poθ彿∫.〉 、
(10) Cf.‘Cock:(喚ot decent)penis.’(C.0.D)
(11) ‘Peter’means‘a rock.,
(12) Cf㌧∠4α70η’∫Ro4, chap.8.、乙αのゐ動4.καηgα700, ch翫p.11.7乾θP1μη38436ψ8雇,
chap.10.
(13) ∠4 P2r(4)05 げLα41レ Cゐσπ671¢ゾ∫ 」乙oo6r.
(14) ‘Kant thought with his head and his spirit, but he never thought with hl& 、
@ blood. The blood also thinks, inslde a man, darkly and ponderously.}
(“Books”)
(15)H.T。 Moore:7乃6翻6〃忽6η≠」暁α7’, part 5。、
(16) Aletter to F. carter, dated 6 Jan.,1930・
(17) ‘‘Introduction’, in,乙oπ40π2Vθz嬬z6ワ・
(18) 1勉π’α∫毎qプ漉θ こ1カ60η∬ゴoz6∫, chap.6.
(19) Cf㌦Lαψα診α彦’671ヴ∫五〇〇6r, chap.13。 Fαη如5‘4げ痂8こ1π60η∫oゴoπ5, chap.8.
(20) It is very suggestive that‘part’is very often used without the indefinite
article‘a,.
(21) ∠1Pfψ05げLαのαα彦云〃1哩〆∫」乙ooθ7.
(22) 7フ短P1ε〃28436ψ6π彦, chap.26.