Women in Love (Barnes & Noble Classics S - D. H. Lawrence [266]
Chapter VI
1 (p. 62) “He’s a soldier, and an explorer, and a Napoleon of industry,” said Birkin, giving Gerald his credentials for Bohemia: Lawrence is cleverly continuing his use of Gerald as a symbol: He has the mark of Cain, and he kills his darker brother. Gerald’s snow-abstraction destructiveness is opposed in this chapter to Birkin’s championing of primitive, more sensual cultures, as symbolized by the African statue. This is one of the central themes of the novel.
2 (p. 66) “I should adore some oysters”: Oysters are a symbol of sexuality Lawrence is establishing Pussum as sensual, linking her with the African sculpture. In other words, she is Gerald’s direct opposite, as well as Gudrun’s and Hermione’s.
3 (p. 72) there were several negro statues, wood-carvings from West Africa, strange and disturbing: A bohemian apartment such as Halliday’s is the appropriate place for these West African statues. Lawrence uses these as a symbol of sensual, instinctive primitive cultures, as opposed to the cold, industrialized, dehumanized culture of Europe.
4 (p. 74) And yet the black looks of her eyes made Gerald feel drowned in some dreadful, potent darkness that almost frightened him: Again Lawrence connects Pussum with the African statue and his assumption of the greater sensuality of darker people.
Chapter VII
1 (p. 75) Totem: As the chapter title suggests, this chapter establishes more fully the African sculpture as a theme and lays out its symbolism. The beauty of what Lawrence accomplishes here is that, in having this and the last chapter set in Halliday’s apartment, Lawrence loses none of the realism of his novel even while he works in abstract symbolism. African art became popular in the early twentieth century, when the French painter Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) found an African sculpture on a Paris quay. The artists Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963) popularized African art; its influence, combined with that of the work of Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), helped lead them to invent Cubism. After them, a whole host of artists got on the African art bandwagon. Philip Heseltine, on whom Lawrence based the Halliday character (see note 2 to chapter V), had several pieces of African art.
Chapter VIII
1 (p. 80) Breadalby was a Georgian house with Corinthian pillars, standing among the softer, greener hills of Derbyshire, not far from Cromford: Breadalby is based on Lady Ottoline Morrell’s Garsington Manor. Lady Morrell (see note 5 to chapter I) was one of the great hostesses and conduits for writers, artists, and intellectuals of the early twentieth century; her Garsington Manor was the setting for many of their gatherings. Lawrence carefully placed this chapter after “Totem,” opposing sensuality against will, order, rational consciousness, coldness, and violence.
2 (p. 80) her brother, a bachelor, and a Liberal member of Parliament: Alexander Roddice is based on Lady Ottoline’s husband, Philip Morrell (1870-1943).
3 (p. 81) There were present ... a learned, dry Baronet of fifty, who was always making witticisms and laughing at them heartily in a harsh, horse-laugh: Sir Joshua Malleson is based on the philosopher Lord Bertrand Russell (1872-1970). Lawrence and Russell met through Lady Morrell. At first Russell considered Lawrence something of a genius, but later he described him as “a positive force for evil.”
4 (p. 104) Hurriedly, with a burrowing motion, he covered his head under the thick volume of Thucydides: The Greek historian Thucydides, who lived in the fifth century B.C., wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War. The volume saves Birkin’s life. Lady Morrell gave Lawrence a copy of this same volume, a gift that increased speculation about the exact nature of their relationship.
Chapter IX
1 (p. 109) Whilst the two girls waited, Gerald Crich trotted up on a red Arab mare: Lawrence uses the horse as both a symbol of Gerald’s power and his abuse of it, his snow-destructiveness. Note this is a mare, a female horse. In the chapter titled “Water-Party,” Gudrun will taunt bulls.