Return To The Human Body

One of Lawrence's main concerns in his works was to explore and experiment with different ways of writing about the body.Fortunately,there are lots of critics who have systematically interrogated the broader ramifications of his novels,especially in terms of contemporary theoretical debates about language,representation,and sexuality from the aspect of feminism,structuralism,Marxism,the sociology of censorship,Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis,chauvinism and gender studies,and narrative theory.But with one or two notable exceptions,few people pay attention to the meaning of the body from the social and cultural aspects,especially from the angle of the body self.This paper remedies that situation by considering some of the social,cultural,and ideological contexts of Lawrence's writings of the body and by engaging closely with his texts from a range of pertinent theoretical positions.This paper provides detailed discussions of specific major novels by Lawrence and employs theoretical approaches which give special attention to three kinds of the human body.They are the ritualized body,the fragmented body and the reborn body.By using some body theories,this paper argues that Lawrence, as an artist,was calling the harmony,integrity and wholeness of body.While examining the significance of studying Lawrence's novel from the angle of body,this paper also points out the limitedness of Lawrence's thoughts.The introduction,after doing literature review about the body research in Lawrence's major novels,puts forward the idea that Lawrence was a unique writer of narrating the body.While stating the theories employed and the significance of using this method for analyzing these novels,it introduces the main idea of this thesis.The introduction also points out the illustration process of the argument.Chapter two focuses on the ritualized body,which is demonstrated by the body emerged in various parties,including the body in the wedding,wine parties and the funeral. By doing this,Lawrence fiercely attacks the traditional morals and Christian ethics.The third chapter,according to the outline of the thesis,affirms Lawrence's idea about the fragmentary body.Based on the correlated social background of Lawrence's time,this part focuses on the three aspects:the transplanted body,the castrated body and the alienated body.They are the different forms of the fragmentary body.It is contended that Lawrence's notion the human body is fragmented as the modern technology, industrialization and civilization.Chapter four is engaged in the reborn body.After showing the ugliness of the body inflicted by the modern society,Lawrence sings high appraisal for the natural body,which is free of the pollution of the industrialization and civilization.The body in natural state is the perfect and ideal state,when it gets rid of the outside shackles.The conclusion brings Lawrence's attitude towards body,which can be summarized as the following three points:the wholeness,integrity of the body,the beauty of the body and the reborn body after released.