Class 12 English — Chapter 17: Why the Novel Matters

What you'll learn

• ▸The Philosophy of 'Man Alive'
• ▸Critique of Mind-Body Dualism
• ▸Critique of Other Disciplines
• ▸The Novel as the 'Bright Book of Life'
• ▸Rejection of Absolutes and Fixed Identity
• ▸The Metaphor of 'Tremulations on the Ether'
• ▸Dynamic Characters and Life
• ▸D.H. Lawrence's Authorial Voice

Chapter Summary

--- PAGE 1 --- 12076CH17 4 Why the Novel Matters D.H. Lawrence 1885-1930 D.H. Lawrence was born in a coal-mining town. He was the son of an uneducated miner and an ambitious mother who was a teacher. His wife was German, and the couple lived, at various times, in Italy, Germany, Australia, Tahiti and Mexico. Lawrence's writings reflect a revolt against puritanism, mediocrity and the dehumanisation of an industrial society. We have curious ideas of ourselves. We think of ourselves as a body with a spirit in it, or a body with a soul in it, or a body with a mind in it. Mens sana in corpore sano. The years drink up the wine, and at last throw the bottle away, the body, of course, being the bottle. It is a funny sort of superstition. Why should I look at my hand, as it so cleverly writes these words, and decide that it is a mere nothing compared to the mind that directs it? Is there really any huge difference between my hand and my brain? Or my mind? My hand is alive, it flickers wit…

Practice Questions from this Chapter

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1. Analyze novel's impact? Get Solution →
2. Compare life to books? Get Solution →
3. Illustrate human aliveness? Get Solution →
4. What was D.H. Lawrence's father's profession? Get Solution →
5. What Latin phrase does Lawrence quote to describe the traditional view of mind and body? Get Solution →
6. According to Lawrence, where does 'me alive' end? Get Solution →
7. Lawrence claims that which group of people is liable *not* to know that the body is fully alive? Get Solution →
8. What does Lawrence call the non-living words and thoughts that fly from a philosopher or saint? Get Solution →

Did you know?

• 💡 Your body replaces almost all its cells in roughly seven to ten years.
• 💡 The human heart beats over 100,000 times every single day.
• 💡 A newborn baby has more bones than an adult human.
• 💡 The longest living animal known is a Greenland shark, up to 500 years.
• 💡 Our brains create a vivid world from just a tiny fraction of light.

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