Why the novel matters by
D.H. Lawrence
Introduction- the essay
why the novel matter has been written by D.H.Lawrence.it was published
posthumously in 1936 in an essay collection titled Phoenix
In the essay Lawrence
speaks about the importance of the novel and tries to establish the superiority
of the novelist above other professions. In an attempt to illustrate the
importance of the novel Lawrence explains the importance of life and the living
man.
D.H. Lawrence’s
statement about his belief in the novel as a means of instructing or guiding men
and women to live life to the completed. So that also reveals Lawrence's
philosophy of life Lawrence announced (proclaimed) in his
essay being a novelist “ I consider myself superior to the saint the scientist
the philosopher and the poet,” who are all the great master of different bits
of men alive but never get the whole hog. Lawrence's mood of arguments is
simple but extremely effective. He indicates that the novel is the most flexible
and creative of literary form.
Lawrence begins the essay
by ridiculing the superstitious belief that the body and the soul or mind are
two separate existence. He believes that whatever is me alive is me.
Lawrence said that he was only a soul or a body, mind intelligent or a brain,
or a bit of himself. The whole is greater than the part so for a living
man the whole part is important. He says that this is what scientists and
philosophers fail to understand. According to Lawrence's novel show,
life and its character are nothing but man alive. this is something which can
be understood by the novelist because the novel is a bright book of life There
for the novelist is better than the scientist and philosopher.
He quotes an example of an Italian
Saint Francis of who tortured his body, believes that the soul was of ultimate
importance. However, when he was dying he apologized to his body for tortured
on his body.
According to Lawrence, the novelist possesses a complex understanding of the man alive more fully than
a person, a philosopher, or a scientist. The person speaks about the soul in
heaven. But a novelist talks about paradise in the plum of our hand or at the
end of our nose which are alive because during his lifetime understanding by what
happens to afterlife, so the novelist is not concerned about life after death.
The philosopher speaks
about infinite knowledge possessed by a pure spirit. But for the novelist,
there is no knowledge beyond what the living body can preserve. For philosopher
nothing but the thing is important, but Lawrence says the thought is not alive,
its like a radio signals floating in the air which are meaningless until
they reach the receiver - a radio device that makes out the signal into a
meaningful message. similarly, when thoughts are received by a man alive they
become meaningful. It is only because the man alive receives them they become
alive.
Thus the living the body is more important than the message conveyed by the thoughts. According to
Lawrence nothing is more important than life. Living things is more valuable
than a dead object. A living dog is better than a dead lion but a living lion
is better than a living dog. Lawrence says that scientists and philosophers
find it too difficult to accept the value of living. For the scientist, a man
is a heart, a liver, a kidney, a gland, or a tissue. But for the
novelist the whole living man is important.
This is because of a
novel deals in nothing but man alive. In this regard, Lawrence calls the Bible “a
great confuse novel”. It is not about one man alive but a long list
of men alive. Even God is another man is alive.
According to Lawrence
the entire Bible, homer, Shakespeare is an example of the supreme old the novel
they affect the whole man alive not a part of a man as does the scientist.
According to Lawrence, the nature of the novel is dynamic, its character which reflects the importance
of constant and if something is forced to remain constant it loses its value
and power along with the passing of times. A man today is different from what
he is today. A man loves women because of the constant change in her. Loving
an unchanging person is like loving a lifeless object. Lawrence says that one
can learn about the importance of change from a novel. In a novel, the character
does nothing but live. But if they began to act according to a fixed pattern,
always remain good or bad then lose its value and power.
Lawrence however, says
that it is difficult to define what is living. Different man has a different
idea about what they mean by living in life. Some go to seek God while others
seek money, wine, and women and others seek votes and political reforms. In
this Lawrence says that the novel is a guide that helps to differentiate
between a man alive and a man who is a dead man in life. A man alive shoots his
enemy but in life throws bombs at people who are neither his friend nor his
foe.
Finally, Lawrence says
that the most important thing is to be a whole man alive, and the novel
providing guidance in this matter. The novel is the best to guide which helps
us to live, without getting ourselves unnecessary disturb by the theory of
right or wrong. Since what is right in one case becomes wrong in another. In
the novel, we say a man dying because of his goodness another person dying
because of his weakness.
Lawrence extended fictional practice by breaking convention established by the Victorian
novelist. Thus Lawrence asserts that the novel is a book that can teach the
life of a whole man alive and that is why the novel matter.
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