D.H. Lawrence: Life Into Art

Among the books that so far have appaeared this is a ilustrated biography by Keith Sagar, already known as editor of Lawrence selected poems. It was in it s last print a glossy, large and lavishly illustrated book that could have been easily dismiss as another 'coffee table' volume; but the book is in fact much more than that. The biography takes us to meet intelectuals and aristocrats, writers and artist, pesants and peons, bohemians and bankers as Lawrence travels from London and Cornwall, Germany and Italy, New Mexico, Ceylon and Australia. But although we are taken on a usual conducted biographical tour we are not taken in a usual way. What mr Sagar has done is novel and get us nearer to Lawrence the human. He has told this life by means of stracts, mainly from Lawrence's writings specially from letters and diaries. There is alot that is of interest and quite instructing such as his strong emotional dependence to Frida while at the same time attempting to from a spiritual community... his Ramanim who he needed to believe was possible to form if he was to retain any faith in humanity and the human future. A good book but in the end a sad story he gives, of one man who's writings are now part of the English lemguage heritage, writings, that will remain read perhaps for centuries to come.