Author Biography
Reading Outside of the Lines
D.H. Lawrence
Modernist/Novelist/Thinker
David Herbert Lawrence (1885–1930) was a prolific writer working in a wide range of styles and forms. A major theme in his work is discussion of the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialization, confronting issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, sexuality, and instinctive behavior. By the time of his death from tuberculosis, he was considered a pornographer who had wasted his talents. Some, however, challenged that view. E.M. Forster, writing an obituary of Lawrence, described him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, critics championed his reputation, noting his artistic integrity and moral seriousness, and assigning his fiction to the "great tradition" of the English novel. He is now considered a visionary thinker and a significant representative of modernism in English literature.