D. H. Lawrence: Triumph to Exile 1912-1922: The Cambridge Biography of D. H. Lawrence (D. H. Lawrence Vol. 2) (Volume 2) [Hardcover]

Mark Kinkead-Weekes (Author)

Book Description

Series: D. H. Lawrence Vol. 2 | Publication Date: July 13, 1996

This second volume of the acclaimed Cambridge biography of D. H. Lawrence covers the years 1912-22, the period in which he forged his reputation as one of the greatest and most controversial writers of the twentieth century. The story opens as the twenty-six-year-old Lawrence travels to Germany with Frieda Weekley, the wife of a university professor and mother of three small children. In his baggage on that prosaic cross-channel ferry was a draft of Sons and Lovers, the first of a group of novels with which Lawrence was to revolutionize English fiction over the next decade. This meticulously researched volume opens a new perspective on the central period of Lawrence's life and literary career. Drawing on memoirs, oral recollections, and unpublished manuscript material, it deals squarely with the vexing issue of Lawrence and Frieda's personal relations--issues that have more often been gossiped about than scrupulously examined. Above all it reveals the triumph of Lawrence's art during a decade of extraordinary trials in which, against all reasonable odds, the coal-miner's son established himself as the most innovative and notorious novelist of his generation.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mark Kinkead-Weekes's tome, the second of a planned three- part study of the life of D.H. Lawrence, is an incredible accomplishment. Following 1991's The Early Years: 1885-1912 by John Worthen, Triumph to Exile: 1912-1922 continues a comprehensive telling of Lawrence's life, covering the period betweem his flight from England and his departure for Naples. Fans of Lawrence will find this series a window on the writer's life worth looking through; scholars and more general readers of biography should appreciate the archaeological care with which details have been unearthed and the theoretical sophistication of their display.

Review

"This is a superb biography, a work of impeccable scholarship that includes an impressive component of notes, appendices, chronological tables, and family trees, as well as complete lists of Lawrence's prose and verse writing in the relevant period. Of particular interest is the skillful way in which Kinkead-Weekes sets out the historic meeting of Lawrence and Bertrand Russell and the reasons--cultural, political, literary--for its disappointing course. Also noteworthy is the discussion of Lawrence's slippery sexual identity and its manifestation in his various works. A wonderful achievement." The Virginia Quarterly Review

"...an exhaustively detailed account that, in its methodical recording of virtually all Lawrence's known actions--almost a week-by-week log of his whereabouts, the company he kept, the words he uttered, the debts he owed and paid--aims to convey `some sense at least of what it may have been like to live as Lawrence did.'...In addition to tracking Lawrence's inexorable progress from `triumph to exile,' Kinkead-Weekes provides very ample discussions of all of his writings during the period....Readers of modern literature will doubtless welcome this carefully executed `middle' relay in the ongoing Cambridge biographical marathon that has already added much to our knowledge of one of the century's indispensable voices." Magill's Literary Annual

"...covers the 10 central years of Lawrence's amazingly brief life (he died at 45) and chronicles in meticulous detail the doings, meanderings, and amours of the writer and his circle. As a repository of factual scholarship, Kinkead-Weekes's monumental biography is clearly a well from which readers and scholars will be drawing insight for years to come." Washington Post Book World

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 989 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition edition (July 13, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521254205
• ISBN-13: 978-0521254205
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,301,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.