Description
Flame Into Being – you will find the
phrase more than once in the works of
D. H. Lawrence. In Lady Chatterley’s
Lover you will find it in association with a
word once believed to be dirty.
Unfortunately too many people think of
Lawrence as a writer of notoriety;
proclaiming the virtues of sex in a banned
book The aim of Anthony Burgess’s study
is to convey something of the greatness of
the man as manifested in far more
important words – novels, short stories,
essays, poems. And, as it is difficult to
separate the man from the writer, to
recount his turbulent short life – a life
that took him from a miner’s cottage in
Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, to Germany;
Italy; Ceylon, Australia, Mexico. A very
English writer, he was rejected by his own
people. His bones lie not in Westminster
Abbey but on a ranch in New Mexico. He
was one of the great writers whom
English hypocrisy drove into permanent
exile.
On 11 September 1985 we celebrate
the first centenary of his birth It seems
proper to take the opportunity to make
a brief survey of his achievement. The
survey that Burgess here presents is
dedicated not to the Lawrence specialists
but to ordinary readers who need to be
reminded of his originality; power, and
burning belief in the life of the instincts.
Burgess himself lives in exile and,
like Lawrence, is better regarded abroad
than in his land of origin He has been
honoured with the award of
Commandeur du Merite Culturel, the
Branca, Malaparte, Bancarella and Scanno
prizes, and the distinction of Prix du
Meilleur Livre Etranger for the French
version of his Earthly Powers. In 1979
Mrs Thatcher gave him a plastic plaque
honouring him as Critic of the Year. He
lives in Monaco and Lugano with his
Italian wife.
Hardcover
Ex-library
211 pages
In good preloved condition
