A few days ago the Biographers International Organization awarded the 2022 Plutarch Award to Burning Man: The Trials of D.H. Lawrence. Named after the Father of Biography, the Plutarch Award is awarded every year to the best biography of the year. And this year it went to the biography about D.H. Lawrence, the famous English author.

D.H. Lawrence: A Modernist Rebel

D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) was one of the most influential and controversial writers of the 20th century, whose works explored themes such as modernity, sexuality, and nature. He was a prolific writer whose works include novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, and travel books. He challenged the moral and social norms of his time and pushed the limits of what was acceptable in literary fiction. D.H. Lawrence was also a visionary thinker who developed his own philosophy of life, based on the idea of following one’s inner impulses and instincts, rather than the rules and conventions of society.

Early Life and Education (1885-1911)

Lawrence was born on September 11, 1885, in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England, to a working-class family. His father, Arthur, was a coal miner who had worked from the age of 10 and was a dialect speaker, a drinker, and virtually illiterate. His mother, Lydia, was a former teacher who had been forced to perform manual work in a lace factory due to her family’s financial difficulties. Lawrence had three older brothers and one younger sister. He grew up in a poor and unhappy family, but was close to his mother, who encouraged his education and his interest in literature.

Lawrence attended Beauvale Board School and won a scholarship to Nottingham High School, where he studied French, German, and Latin. He showed an early talent for writing and began publishing poems and stories in local newspapers and magazines. He became a teacher at the British School in Eastwood and later at Davidson Road School in Croydon, where he met Jessie Chambers, a friend of his family and his first love. She introduced him to more books and writers and encouraged him to send his work to publishers. He published his first novel, The White Peacock, in 1911, under the name D.H. Lawrence.

Travels with Frieda Weekley (1912-1914)

In 1912, Lawrence eloped with Frieda Weekley, the wife of his former professor and a cousin of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. She was six years older than him and had three children from her previous marriage. They travelled across Europe, looking for a place where they could live freely and happily. They also formed close friendships with other writers and artists, such as Katherine Mansfield, John Middleton Murry, Edward Garnett, and Mark Gertler. Lawrence published his second novel, The Trespasser, in 1912, and his third novel, Sons and Lovers, in 1913. The latter was a semi-autobiographical account of his childhood and his complex relationship with his mother. It was also a psychological study of the effects of the Oedipus complex, influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud.

Lawrence’s novels attracted both praise and criticism for their realism and their exploration of sexuality and emotions. He was also interested in the contrast and connection between the civilized and the primitive, the rational and the instinctive, and the human and the natural. D.H. Lawrence developed his own philosophy of life, which he called “the religion of the blood”, based on the idea that one should follow one’s inner impulses and instincts, rather than the rules and conventions of society. He expressed this philosophy in his poems, such as “Look! We Have Come Through!” (1917), and in his essays, such as “The Crown” (1915) and “The Reality of Peace” (1916).

War and Exile (1914-1919)

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Lawrence and Frieda, who were both pacifists and anti-nationalists, were seen as enemies by the British authorities, because of their German connections and their unconventional lifestyle. They were harassed and persecuted, and their passports were confiscated. They moved from place to place, trying to avoid censorship and suspicion. Lawrence was accused of being a spy and a traitor, and his novel The Rainbow (1915), which followed the lives and loves of three generations of a family, was banned for its obscenity and its depiction of homosexuality. He also wrote Women in Love (1920), which was a sequel to The Rainbow and featured some of the same characters. It was also controversial for its portrayal of sexuality and its use of explicit language.

Lawrence and Frieda left England in 1919 and began a long period of exile, travelling across Europe, Asia, Australia, and America, looking for a new way of living, away from the corruption and decay of Western civilization. They were also looking for a new form of art, that would express their vision of life and their philosophy of the blood, experimenting with different genres and styles, such as the novel, the short story, the poem, the play, the essay, and the travel book. They also experimented with different themes and topics, such as psychology, mythology, art, politics, and culture, while writing about a wide range of places and people, such as Italy, Germany, Australia, Mexico, India, and the Native Americans.

The Savage Pilgrimage (1920-1928)

Lawrence’s travels and writings were a form of what he called “the savage pilgrimage”, a quest for a more authentic and harmonious way of living, in tune with nature and the spirit. He was especially interested in the contrast and connection between the civilized and the primitive, the rational and the instinctive, and the human and the natural. He explored these themes in his novels, such as Aaron’s Rod (1922), Kangaroo (1923), The Plumed Serpent (1926), and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928). The latter was his most famous and controversial work, which depicted the affair between an aristocratic woman and a working-class man. It was banned in Britain and America for its obscenity and its use of explicit language. It was also a political and social critique of the industrial society and its effects on human relationships and sexuality.

Lawrence wrote short stories such as “The Prussian Officer” (1914), “Odour of Chrysanthemums” (1914), “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” (1922), and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” (1926), poems such as “Birds, Beasts and Flowers” (1923), “Pansies” (1929), and “Last Poems” (1932), and plays such as The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd (1914), The Daughter-in-Law (1913), and The Fight for Barbara (1933). He also wrote essays, such as Studies in Classic American Literature (1923), which was a groundbreaking analysis of the American literary tradition and its influence on his own work. Lawrence also wrote travel books, such as Sea and Sardinia (1921), Mornings in Mexico (1927), and Etruscan Places (1932), and translated works by other writers, such as Giovanni Verga, Lev Shestov, and Ivan Bunin.

Death and Legacy (1929-1930)

Lawrence’s health deteriorated in the late 1920s, as he suffered from tuberculosis, malaria, and other illnesses. He moved to the south of France, where he rented a villa in Vence and continued to write until the end of his life, working on his last novel, The Man Who Died (1931), which was a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ. During that time he also painted, and exhibited some of his paintings in London and Paris. He died on March 2, 1930, at the age of 44 and was buried in a small chapel near Taos, New Mexico, where he had spent some time in the 1920s.

Lawrence’s legacy as a writer and a thinker has been widely recognized and debated. He has influenced many other writers, such as James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, and Anaïs Nin. Praised for his originality, vitality, artistic integrity, and moral seriousness, he has also been criticized for his sexism, his racism, his elitism, and his obscurity. He has been seen as a prophet, a rebel, a visionary, and a pornographer, D.H. Lawrence is regarded as one of the most important and controversial voices of modern literature. Go here to find a full list of all works by D.H. Lawrence.

If you want to learn more about Plutarch, the father of biography, you can go to our blog about the National Biographers Day & Plutarch.