D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman
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D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page i D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page ii Also by Jeff Wallace CHARLES DARWIN’S ‘ORIGIN OF SPECIES’: New Interdisciplinary Essays (editor with David Amigoni) RAYMOND WILLIAMS NOW: Knowledge, Limits and the Future (editor with Rod Jones and Sophie Nield) GOTHIC MODERNISMS (editor with Andrew Smith) Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page iii D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman Jeff Wallace Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page iv © Jeff Wallace 2005 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978-1-4039-4232-6 hardback ISBN-10: 1-4039-4232-3 hardback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wallace, Jeff, 1958– D. H. Lawrence, science and the posthuman / Jeff Wallace. P. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-4039-4232-3 1. Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885–1930 – Knowledge – Science. 2. Literature and science – Great Britain – History – 20th century. 3. Science in literature. I. Title. PR6023.A93Z9427 2005 823¢.912–dc22 2004065058 10987654 321 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page v To Nina and Robin Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page vi We wait for the miracle, for the new soft wind. Even the buds of iron break into soft little flames of issue. So will people change. So will the machine-parts open like buds and the great machines break into leaf. D.H. Lawrence, The Symbolic Meaning Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page vii Contents Acknowledgements ix List of Abbreviations x Introduction 1 Part I: Science 9 1 Thinking Matter 11 1. Biological knowledge 11 2. D.H. Lawrence and science 16 3. Lawrence, science and humanist criticism 18 4. Posthumanism 26 2 Science, Ideology and the ‘New’ 34 1. ‘Born scientific’ 34 2. Religious crisis and the New Theology 36 3. Science and socialism: The New Age 41 4. Science and gender: the New Woman 48 3 Writing Matter: Science, Language and Materialism 58 1. ‘Alert’ and ‘didactic’ science 58 2. Darwin, origins and the arbitrary 66 3. Herbert Spencer: thinkability 72 4. Ernst Haeckel: the language of substance 80 5. T.H. Huxley: honeyed words 86 6. William James: reality in the making 92 7. Coda 96 Part II: The Posthuman 99 4 Posthuman D.H. Lawrence? 101 5 Animals 119 Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 1. Anthropomorphism and the meaning of animals: Coetzee and Lawrence 119 2. The White Peacock 123 3. Women in Love and St. Mawr 128 4. The Fox and Kangaroo: ‘non-human human being’ 141 5. Real encounters: porcupines and frogs 146 vii 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page viii viii Contents 6 Humans 152 1. Eugenics past and present 152 2. The solar plexus 158 3. Cultures 166 4. Sensual riches: the posthuman in Sons and Lovers and The Rainbow 190 7 Machines 202 1. Luddite Lawrence 202 2. Mechanical and organic 207 3. Deleuze and Guattari’s Lawrence 211 4. Aaron’s Rod, Kangaroo, The Plumed Serpent: anti-capitalism and the posthumanistic 218 5. ‘To live beyond money’: Lady Chatterley’s Lover 227 Postscript: On Abstraction 233 Notes 241 Bibliography 251 Index 259 Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page ix Acknowledgements In one form or another, this book has been a long time in the making. For their advice and constructive criticism in the early days of research, I thank David Amigoni, Roger Ebbatson, Rod Edmond, David Ellis, Graham Hitchen, Graham Holderness, Mark Kinkead-Weekes, Laura Marcus and Andy Mousley. With those days in mind, I would also like to dedicate the book to the memory of Kate Westoby, Ian Gregor and Graham Martin. More recently, Anne Fernihough and Rick Rylance know what a great deal I owe to them. A special word of thanks is reserved for Rod Jones; the value of his ideas and intellectual companionship over the years has been incalculable. I am also very grateful for the support and advice of Simon Dentith, Hywel Dix, Dominic Head, Kevin Mills, Andrew Smith, Diana Wallace, Martin Willis and John Worthen. Paula Kennedy and Helen Craine at Palgrave Macmillan have been very helpful, and I acknowledge with thanks the initial support of Emily Rosser. Andy Goldsworthy gave his very kind per- mission for the jacket image, and thanks are also due in this respect to Jill Hollis at Cameron Books. This book has been made possible by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board, and by the financial support of the School of Humanities, Law and Social Sciences, University of Glamorgan. Finally, for their constant encouragement and forbearance, I would like to thank my wife Frances and my children Robin and Nina – not forgetting Paddock, of course. None of them will be sorry that we are, at last, in a post- posthuman phase. Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright ix 10.1057/9780230287631 - D.H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman, Jeff Wallace 1403_942323_01_pre.qxd 4/25/2005 10:55 AM Page x List of Abbreviations Works by D.H. Lawrence A Apocalypse AR Aaron’s Rod CP The Complete Poems of D.H. Lawrence EP Etruscan Places FU Fantasia of the Unconscious and Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious K Kangaroo LI The Letters of D.H. Lawrence, Vol. I LII The Letters of D.H. Lawrence, Vol. II LIII The Letters of D.H. Lawrence, Vol. III LCL Lady Chatterley’s Lover MM Mornings in Mexico P Phoenix PII Phoenix II Poems Complete Poems of D.H. Lawrence PS The Plumed Serpent RDP Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays SCAL Studies in Classic American Literature SL Sons and Lovers SM The Symbolic Meaning StM St. Mawr and Other Stories STH Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays TI Twilight in Italy TN The Fox, The Ladybird, The Captain’s Doll (more commonly known as Three Novellas) TR The Rainbow WL Women in Love WP The White Peacock Other works AAR Jane Harrison, Ancient Art and Ritual Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsoe - PalgraveConnect - 2011-03-11 - PalgraveConnect Tromsoe i - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright ATP Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus AV H.G.