D.H. Lawrence, Music and Modernism

by Susan Reid

Overview

This first book-length study of D. H. Lawrence’s lifelong engagement with music surveys his extensive musical interests and how these permeate his writing, while also situating Lawrence within a growing body of work on music and modernism. A twin focus considers the music that shaped Lawrence’s novels and poetry, as well as contemporary developments in music that parallel his quest for new forms of expression. Comparisons are made with the music of Debussy, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Wagner, and British composers, including Bax, Holst and Vaughan Williams, and with the musical writings of Forster, Hardy, Hueffer (Ford), Nietzsche and Pound. Above all, by exploring Lawrence and music in historical context, this study aims to open up new areas for study and a place for Lawrence within the field of music and modernism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030049980
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	02/07/2019
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Music and Literature
Edition description:	1st ed. 2019
Pages:	243
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Susan Reid is the editor of the Journal of D. H. Lawrence Studies, co-editor of the Edinburgh Companion to D. H. Lawrence and the Arts (under contract, 2020) and Katherine Mansfield and Literary Modernism (2011), and author of numerous articles and book chapters on Lawrence and other modernist writers.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: “Words writ to the music".- 2. “The insidious mastery of song”: Cadence and decadence in the early poems.- 3. Lawrence’s case of Wagner: The White Peacock and The Trespasser.- 4. “Between heaven and earth”: Space, music and religion in The Rainbow.- 5. “Beyond the sound of words”: Harmony and polyphony in Women in Love.- 6. Music, noise and the First World War: “All of Us”, Bay and Aaron’s Rod.- 7. New world musicals: The Plumed Serpent and David.- 8. Conclusion: Aspiring to the condition of song.- 9. Afterword: Anthony Burgess’s D. H. Lawrence Suite.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“If music in Lawrence has previously seemed a marginal theme, Susan Reid shows it to be a major question both within the oeuvre and in relation to broader modernist culture. How has this topic been missed? Her over-arching yet close-grained argument will surely be the classic point of reference.” (Michael Bell, Professor Emeritus, University of Warwick, UK)

“This pathbreaking study will provide an invaluable research resource for music in D. H. Lawrence’s works and inter-arts Modernism for years to come. Reid’s monumental undertaking encompasses Lawrence’s profound engagements with acoustical, contemporary, classical, folk, and experimental musical forms in each phase of this virtuosic career, in poetry and the novel, culminating in exposition of Lawrence’s own compositions in music for his epic, last play, David.” (Holly A. Laird, Frances W. O’Hornett Chair of Literature, University of Tulsa, USA)

“D.H. Lawrence, Music and Modernism returns its subject to the center of a series of debates currently energizing Twentieth Century Studies. Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, Dr. Reid’s study consolidates Lawrence’s reputation as a front-rank literary modernist – one who (alongside Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, Proust, Mann and many other writers) was drawn to music as a means to explore a series of aesthetic, personal and political issues.” (Gerry Smyth, Professor of Irish Cultural History, Liverpool John Moores University, UK)

In the crowded field of Lawrence studies, it is rare to encounter new critical perspectives as widely informed and as strikingly original as this impressive work of interdisciplinary scholarship by Susan Reid. Carefully contextualised, lucidly argued and thought-provoking throughout, Reid’s meticulous tracing of the intricate web of ligatures that link Lawrence, music and modernism uncovers a whole new dimension to Lawrence’s work and provides valuable soundings for future research of a related nature. (Paul Poplawski, Lawrence scholar and bibliographer, formerly of the University of Leicester, UK)

Editorial Reviews

Susan Reid’s book is very useful in working on … the significance of music to D. H. Lawrence and his writing. Her book performs an excellent service in gathering together musical allusions in Lawrence’s various texts, noting possible musical influences on them, and in a valuable appendix itemizing settings of Lawrence’s works. … the study is definitive, and will stand as a sourcebook for any future research.” (Jeremy Tambling, Modern Language Review, Vol. 116 (4), October, 2021)

“D. H. Lawrence, Music and Modernism comes highly recommended: the diversity of material it brings together from across Lawrence’s career is impressive in its own right, and this range will make it an excellent springboard for future work on Lawrence and music.” (Robert Jackson, The Cambridge Quarterly, Vol. 48 (4), December, 2019)

From the Publisher