Shifting lines in D. H. Lawrence’s travel writings

D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) spent much of his life travelling around the globe, at least until his untimely death from tuberculosis. But Lawrence’s travel writing was inextricably linked with his personal philosophy, and one aspect that particularly fascinated Lawrence was the idea of straight lines. In Mornings in Mexico, for example, he makes the startling assertion that “the straight course is hacked out in wounds, against the will of the world”. For Lawrence clearly associated linearity with the scientific, causal thinking of a human world which he detested, and he aimed to develop an alternative model. Thus, he sought to shift from a horizontal axis to a more vertical one (expressed in his own terms, it involves not contenting oneself with exploring the surface, but rather seeking out the hidden depths); hence his interest in crossing “dividing lines”, or “gulfs” or “abysses”, which pushed him indefatigably to pursue new, unpredictable and surprising encounters with people, places and even things. And yet his search for another paradigm led him still further. In Mornings in Mexico Lawrence also wrote the following: “Strange that we should think in straight lines, when there are none, and talk of straight courses, when every course, sooner or later, is seen to be making the sweep round, swooping upon the centre”. Ultimately, a radically non-linear, anti-scientific vision is shown to be at the very heart of Lawrence’s travel writing

Art · Modernist Literature and Criticism · Religious Tourism and Spaces · Travel Writing and Literature

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