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DH Lawrence and Civilization Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-13-2002 D.H. Lawrence and civilization: a study of D.H. Lawrence's "leadership" novels, Aaron's rod, Kangaroo and the plumed serpent Nader Elhefnawy Florida International University DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI15101287 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Elhefnawy, Nader, "D.H. Lawrence and civilization: a study of D.H. Lawrence's "leadership" novels, Aaron's rod, Kangaroo and the plumed serpent" (2002). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3135. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3135 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida D.H. LAWRENCE AND CIVILIZATION: A STUDY OF D.H. LAWRENCE'S "LEADERSHIP" NOVELS, AARON'S ROD, KANGAROO AND THE PLUMED SERPENT A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in ENGLISH by Nader Elhefnawy 2002 To: Dean Arthur Herriott College of Arts and Sciences This thesis, written by Nader Elhefnawy, and entitled D.H. Lawrence and Civilization: A Study of D.H. Lawrence's "Leadership" Novels, Aaron's Rod, Kangaroo and The Plumed Serpent, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. Maneck Daruwala Butler Waugh Phillip Marcus, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 13, 2002 The thesis of Nader Elhefnawy is approved. Dean Arthur Herriott College of Arts and Sciences Dean Douglas Wartzok University Graduate School Florida International University, 2002 ii ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS D.H. LAWRENCE AND CIVLZATION: A STUDY OF D.H. LAWRENCE'S "LEADERIP" NOVELS, AARON'S ROD, KANGAROO AND THE PLUMED SERPENT by Nader Elhefnawy Florida International University, 2002 Miami, Florida Professor Phillip Marcus, Major Professor D.H. Lawrence's "leadership" novels, namely Aaron's Rod, Kangaroo and The Plumed Serpent, dealt with the ramifications of industrial civilization. This thesis uses a "Toffierian" approach, drawing on the works of the futurist Alvin Toffier's "trilogy" of noted books on the rate, direction and consequences of "civilizational" change, Future Shock, The Third Wave and Powershrft. This thesis argues that Lawrence recognizes the demise of the "love-urge" that had sustained civilization in Aaron's Rod; seeks and fails to find a solution in the political movements of his time in Kangaroo, demonstrating the impossibility of a modem solution to inherently modern problems; and in The Plumed Serpent, seeks an answer in a way of life apart from industrial civilization entirely. iii TABLE F CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE TNTRDUCTIN ................................................................................... 1 1. AARON'S ROD ..................................................................... ..... Second Wave Civilization in Aaron's o ............................................. The Love- Urge an the Power Soul ................................................... 10 II. KANGAROO .......................................................................... .. 2 III. T PLUMED SERPENT ............................................................... 5 LIST OF REFERENCES ......................................................................... 6 iv INTRODUCTION D.H. Lawrence's works are today remembered as a celebration of the natural and whole human being, but also as a criticism of the modem industrial society that he believed made such wholeness difficult or impossible to achieve. These novels tended to balance a focus on individual men and women with a broader concern for society and civilization as a whole, as in The Rainbow or Women in Love. Lawrence's broader concerns were, however, foregrounded in what have been called by some Lawrence's trilogy of "power" or "leadership" novels, namely Aaron's Rod, Kangaroo and The Plumed Serpent. It is the purpose of this thesis to examine these three novels with an eye to Lawrence's views on the present and possible directions of civilization in general from his historical vantage point of the 1920s. A "civilizational" approach is one which takes "civilization" (rather than, for instance, an individual or country), however defined, as a unit of analysis. Numerous such approaches exist, "civilization" having been studied by philosophers, historians and other scholars as diverse as Arnold Toynbee, William McNeill and Samuel Huntington. Consequently, it can encompass a broad variety of subjects, ranging from intellectual history to political science to technology. The particular subject of concern here will be Lawrence's critique of industrial civilization, and his search for an escape from the conundrums it posed. The specific approach being taken in this thesis will be "Tofflerian", drawing on the works of the futurist Alvin Toffier's "trilogy" of noted books on "civilizational" change, 1 Future Shock, The Third Wave and powersh i. Toffler described three types of civilization in the above-mentioned works, First Wave, Second Wave and Third Wave, each defined by their mode of economic production, and on which was also founded their value system and way of life. First Wave civilizations were essentially agricultural. Second Wave civilizations were "smoke-stack" industrial. Third Wave civilizations are "post-industrial", or "information-based". Toffier's work, which has been an important influence on fields ranging from business management to military science in the past three decades, has been largely ignored by literary scholars. However, the fact that he analyzes industrial civilization and takes an interest in the psychological problems it poses, means that he dealt with the same issues as Lawrence from a different perspective, making his studies not merely relevant but a promising new basis for studying Lawrence's writings. Such an analysis is of course fraught with potential pitfalls, not the least of which is Lawrence's frequently obscure terminology, and to paraphrase critic Horace Gregory, his contentment with contradicting himself at every turni More importantly, where Toffler is a materialist who rejects the notion of an essential human nature, Lawrence's focus is on the spiritual. Nonetheless, Lawrence's spiritual concerns are undeniably linked to the material effects of industrial civilization, and Toffler considers the material forces he studies to be the shapers of the psychology, philosophy and spirituality of the societies he analyzes. 'Horace Gregory, D.H. Lawrence: Pilgrim of the Apocalypse (New York: Grove Press, 1933) 68. 2 Following this introduction, chapter one will examine Aaron's Rod. Chapters two and three will examine Kangaroo and The Plumed Serpent respectively. The approach undertaken to these novels will be a close reading of the texts informed by the theoretical approach described above, as well as the broader body of Lawrencian literary criticism. As all three novels share many of the same themes, the principal difference between them is in emphasis and the degree to which Lawrence had developed those themes, ideas first exhibited in an earlier book becoming clearer in a later one, so that the chapters will emphasize the focus of each novel, and bring in points from other novels relevant to that focus, rather than examining each book in isolation. This thesis regards the three works as a set, taking seriously their categorization as a "trilogy" of novels which, to quote critic John Vickery, "signifies the recognition of a cultural and personal dead-end, of a crisis that spells the nullity of human life, and with this the individual's quest for a new and truly human mode of existence." 2 The Second Wave civilization that Alvin Toffier described is market-centered, founded on "brute force" technology and accordingly, the principles of standardization, specialization, synchronization, concentration, maximization and centralization? In La encian terms, it is, for all of its mechanistic qualities, a civilization of what Lawrence saw as an exhausted love-urge, making spiritual wholeness impossible within its framework. In particular, it is the position of this thesis that Lawrence moves from a recognition of what he sees as the principal problem of his civilization (the demise of the love-urge) in 2 John Vickery, "The Plumed Serpent and the Eternal Paradox" Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts. 1963: 119-134. 3 Alvin Toffier, The Third Wave (New York: Bantam Books, 1981) 37-60. 3 Aaron's Rod, focusing on its effects at the level of his protagonist Aaron Sisson; seeks and fails to find a solution in the political movements of his time in Kangaroo, demonstrating the impossibility of finding a Second Wave solution to problems that are inherent to Second Wave civilization; and in The Plumed Serpent, the novel in which his themes are developed most fully and clearly, appears to fnd a solution in a cult celebrating the power-urge and sanctifying the "dark gods", a way of life entirely outside the Second Wave framework. 4 CHAPTER I: AARON'S ROD In Aaron's Rod, there is on the one hand a sense of dissatisfaction with mass, industrialized society, and on the other,
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