Anthropocene aesthetics in D. H. Lawrence's later fiction

Acton, Harry (2025) Anthropocene aesthetics in D. H. Lawrence's later fiction. In: Gifford, T. (ed.) Reading D. H. Lawrence in the Anthropocene. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781399535939. (In Press)

Abstract

Book synopsis: How do the works of D. H. Lawrence speak to readers in the age of the Anthropocene? In this volume, sixteen scholars from six countries explore different answers to this question, considering Lawrence’s novels, short fiction, poetry, paintings and his often-provocative polemical essays. This comprehensive survey of Lawrence’s writings and artworks reveals that his familiar enquiries into human nature were always situated within the energies, large and local, of what he calls ‘the cosmos’ which is our shared home. Lawrence challenges his readers by his movements between cynicism and idealism, dissolution and creativity, critique and regeneration – the very tensions that confront us today in the face of industrial capitalism and environmental deterioration. This revelation of Lawrence’s passionate ‘environmentalism’ not only fills what has been described as ‘a gaping hole in Lawrence studies’. It also drills down into the heart of the problems holding back an adequate response to the climate crisis by offering fundamental values for recovery.

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