The Glyph and the Gramophone

Although he had broken with the Congregationalist faith of his childhood by his early twenties, D.H. Lawrence remained what he called a ‘passionately religious' thinker and writer, from his earliest readings in philosophy and theology to the poems he wrote in the last months of his life. There have been several studies in the last fifteen years of specific aspects of Lawrence's religious thought - on his use of typology, on his theories of creativity, and on his relationship to the Bible. To date, however, there has been no complete survey of the development of Lawrence's complex and changing body of religious thinking and writing. The first major study since the Cambridge Edition of Lawrence's work (begun in 1979) has made his texts adequately available, this book will discuss Lawrence's developing religious thought, as he expresses it both directly in prose and aesthetically in his literary works. It will provide readers for the first time with a complete analysis of Lawrence as a religious man, thinker and artist.

Drawing on authoritative recent editions and major manuscript archives, this is the first complete study of the development of D.H. Lawrence's religious thought.

Although he had broken with the Congregationalist faith of his childhood by his early twenties, D.H. Lawrence remained what he called a ‘passionately religious' thinker and writer, from his earliest readings in philosophy and theology to the poems he wrote in the last months of his life. There have been several studies in the last fifteen years of specific aspects of Lawrence's religious thought - on his use of typology, on his theories of creativity, and on his relationship to the Bible. To date, however, there has been no complete survey of the development of Lawrence's complex and changing body of religious thinking and writing. The first major study since the Cambridge Edition of Lawrence's work (begun in 1979) has made his texts adequately available, this book will discuss Lawrence's developing religious thought, as he expresses it both directly in prose and aesthetically in his literary works. It will provide readers for the first time with a complete analysis of Lawrence as a religious man, thinker and artist.

Although he had broken with the Congregationalist faith of his childhood by his early twenties, D.H. Lawrence remained what he called a ‘passionately religious' thinker and writer, from his earliest readings in philosophy and theology to the poems he wrote in the last months of his life. There have been several studies in the last fifteen years of specific aspects of Lawrence's religious thought - on his use of typology, on his theories of creativity, and on his relationship to the Bible. To date, however, there has been no complete survey of the development of Lawrence's complex and changing body of religious thinking and writing. The first major study since the Cambridge Edition of Lawrence's work (begun in 1979) has made his texts adequately available, this book will discuss Lawrence's developing religious thought, as he expresses it both directly in prose and aesthetically in his literary works. It will provide readers for the first time with a complete analysis of Lawrence as a religious man, thinker and artist.

D. H. Lawrence wrote in 1914, ‘Primarily I am a passionately religious man, and my novels must be written from the depths of my religious experience. Although he had broken with the Congregationalist faith of his childhood by his early twenties, Lawrence remained throughout his writing life a passionately religious man. There have been studies in the last twenty years of certain aspects of Lawrences religious writing, but we lack a survey of the history of his developing religious thought and of his expressions of that thought in his literary works. This book provides that survey, from 1915 to the end of Lawrences life. Covering the war years, Lawrences American works, his time in Australia and Mexico, and the works of the last years of his life, this book provides readers with a complete analysis, during this period, of Lawrence as a religious man, thinker and artist.

Luke Ferretter is Associate Professor of Twentieth-Century British and American Literature at Baylor University, USA. He is author of Sylvia Plaths Fiction: A Critical Study (2010), Louis Althusser (2006), Towards a Christian Literary Theory (2003), and has published widely on twentieth-century literature, theory and religion.

Introduction: Lawrence and the Study of Religion \ 1. The Struggle with Congregationalism: The Early Years \ 2. Re-Writing the Bible: The Rainbow \ 3. The Metaphysics of Blood: Women in Love and the War Years \ 4. The Cultured Animist: Native American Religion \ 5. The Dark God: Kangaroo and The Plumed Serpent \ 6. Throwing Back the Apple: The Return to Eden \ Bibliography \ Index.