Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside, even if it’s bracing… The latest Locating Lawrence tells all about what DH Lawrence was up to in September 1926.
In his Lincolnshire bungalow, ‘one field away from the sea and sandhills’ Lawrence enjoys the ‘fresh and bracing’ air. ‘I feel, if ever I were going to do an English novel, I’d have to come to England to do it. Perhaps this neighbourhood. But not now.’ But maybe next year, for six months, as ‘the seaside is such a good place for doing nothing in. One has a hut on the sands, and the sea does all the shuffling about that is necessary.’
Reconnecting with his family has done Lawrence some good. He enjoys playing the role of brother, imparting practical advice to his elder sister Emily: ‘if the constipation continues, try eating yeast: a little sandwich at 11.00, and another before going to bed. You have to keep it up for some weeks – but usually it has a wonderful effect, freshening up the system.’
Ernest Benn wants to make Lawrence’s short story ‘Glad Ghosts’ the second chapbook in his Yellow Books series. He’d also like them autographed. Lawrence is livid and scorns ‘I’ll see everybody in Hell before I autograph 500 – or 50 – copies.’
Talking of hell, it’s time to return to London; Hampstead becomes his latest home.
These video essays are based on the letters of D.H. Lawrence one hundred years ago and are published monthly. To see previous Locating Lawrence videos from 1926, click here, from 1923, click here, from 1924, click here, from 1925, click here.
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