Erdmute Wenzel White
Purdue University USA
Beyond utopian Impulse: D. H. Lawrence and Anna von Richthofen
Some of Lawrence's most tender and graceful letters are addressed to his mother-in-law, baroness Anna von Richthofen. Lawrence turns to her in times of marital crisis and restless thinking. While he does not blame Frieda for the incivilities of modern erotic life, his letters to Anna record plaintive demands and unleash withering outbursts against his wife, modern woman, and western culture. It is in these letters, written in his fervent German, that he seems to find clarity of mind and emotional repose.
This paper will explore the relationship between Lawrence and his aristocratic German mother-in-law, a relationship with a strong erotic undertow of its own, and Lawrence's yearnings to find in the older woman the tonic of motherly love. The letters offer a telling background to Lawrence's life. They also chronicle compelling, underlying stylistic information.