D.H. Lawrence: Studies in Classic American Literature

[findit]

I am one of those persons who who never read many of the classics in literature, so I did some browsing on Amazon looking for a book to read on the classics when I came across this one. The reviews were good, so I ordered it and have not been disappointed. This book was more than I was expecting. In fact, you would think this book was written by one of Gurdjieff's students. The final edition came out in 1923 and while D. H. Lawrence discusses American literature by names such as Franklin, Poe, Melville, Fenimore Cooper, Whitman and others, there are long discussions on esoteric meaning and consciousness. This book is wonderful and has given me new interest in classic literature. It is a great addition to add to any collection on "The Work."

Here is but a tiny sample taken from Chapter 2 on Benjamin Franklin p.26:

I am a moral animal. But I am not a moral machine. I don't work with a little set of handles or levers. The Temperance-silence-order-resolution-frugality-industry-sincerity-justice-moderation-cleanliness-tranquillity-chastity-humility keyboard is not going to get me going. I'm really not just an automatic piano with a moral Benjamin getting tunes out of me.
Here is my creed, against Benjamin's. This is what I believe.
"That I am I."
"That my soul is a dark forest."
"That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest."
"That gods, strange gods come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back."
"That I must have the courage to let them come and go."
"That I will never let mankind put anything over me, but that I will try always to recognise and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women."
There is my creed. He who runs may read. He who prefers to crawl, or to go by gasoline, can call it rot.

 

[Buddy]

Thanks for mentioning D. H. Lawrence, findit!

I've always heard that every aspiring writer should be familiar with Lawrence as well as e. e. cummings. In fact, I understand that passage you quoted as pointing to the counter-intuitiveness of teaching someone with a sense of autonomy (a man wih his own creed) anything about 'how to be moral', since, in his view, doing morality is a pre-condition for attaining autonomy.

Of course, other interpretations are possible, but that's one of the joys involved!