Sue B. Walker
University of South Alabama, USA
Lawrence said in a letter in 1912, "I am quite certain that when I have been ill, it has been sheer stress and nerve strain which have been let go in my lungs" (qtd. Myers 75). Thomas Couser, in "Autopathography: Women, Illness, and Lifewriting" shows that "when the subjects of lifewriting are afflicted by sufficiently serious illness or disability, those conditions find their way into the texts (including letters). Illness is an important aspect of D.H. Lawrence's life. This paper will attempt to assess its impact on his life and work. Lawrencehad T.B. for most of his wife, and the exacerbations of his disease can be seen as occurring at significant times and serve as an important autopathography that takes into account the vicissitudes of tuberculosis.
Lawrence was a sickly baby and child who remained home with his mother until he was seven. He had severe pneumonia when he was sixteen and left his job never to return. He had another illness when he was twenty-five and left his teaching job permanently. This was probably his first major episode of T.B., and he continued to have recurrent bouts of the disease until his death in 1930. These events occurred at times of crises in his life and were associated with conflict and depression and will be examined as autopathography.
Lawrence had a hemorrhage from his lung in 1925 immediately after finishing The Plumed Serpent when he was planning to return to England. This episode occurred at a time of conflict that represented a giving up without a consequent drive for renewal. A second hemorrhage prevented his return to England, but he made the journey home in 1926. He wrote Lady Chatterly's Lover at this time, producing three versions before publishing the novel in 1928. This novel may be understood as an attempt to reassure himself about his views in Heideggerian terms on being / Being, but he was unable to write his way back to health. He had lost his will to live and was ready to embark on the Ship of Death.