Starting from the apocalyptic modernist assumption that "[h]umanity is a dead letter” ("Women in Love" 60) Lawrence launches, especially after the Great War, his bitterest attacks on bourgeois society. He accuses Western civilisation of causing the impoverishment of what he calls the sensuous vitality of the “lower self” ("Fantasia of the Unconscious and Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious" 178), of turning human beings into spineless abstractions, and of transforming man into a consuming machine. Lawrence cannot expect from modern society anything other than post-mortem effects. He however believes that the novel, “the one bright book of life ,” as he calls it, may eventually reinvigorate this moribund society.
In order to address the notion of invisibility in relation to Lawrence’s apocalyptic / vitalistic vision, I have chosen one of his most eloquent and perplexing works, i.e. "The Man Who Died" which deals with the representation of the world’s invisibility and mindlessness. This short novel is one of his lesser works, the title of which refers to the main character who has risen from the dead as a parodic, Christ-like figure.
In this paper, I will analyse the various ways in which Lawrence endeavours to make the invisible vitality of the living world – what he calls “the phenomenal world” (143) – visible and palpable, and even more real than reality itself.
Table of Contents
1. Representation of the Invisible in D. H. Lawrence’s The Man Who Died
Objectives and Themes
This paper examines the representation of the invisible within D. H. Lawrence’s short novel The Man Who Died, analyzing how the author seeks to make the "invisible vitality" of the phenomenal world visible and palpable through a subversion of Christian dogma and traditional religious idealism.
- The subversion of the Christian Resurrection archetype.
- The transition from spiritual idealism to the "phallic reality" of the physical world.
- The use of narrative consciousness to map sensuous, lived experience.
- The exploration of identity, anonymity, and the "invisibility" of the protagonist.
- The interplay between the visible and invisible worlds through symbolic and ritualistic elements.
Excerpt from the Book
The vision of the phenomenal world
The man who had died looked nakedly on life, and saw a vast resoluteness everywhere flinging itself up in stormy or subtle wave crests, foam-tips emerging out of the blue invisible, a black and orange cock or the green flame-tongues out of the extremes of the fig tree. They came forth, these things and creatures of spring, glowing with desire and with assertion. They came like crests of foam, out of the blue flood of the invisible desire, out of the vast invisible sea of strength, and they came coloured and tangible, evanescent, yet deathless in their coming.
Summary of Chapters
1. Representation of the Invisible in D. H. Lawrence’s The Man Who Died: This section provides an analytical exploration of D. H. Lawrence’s novel, focusing on how the text deconstructs conventional religious narratives to foreground the "invisible", sensuous vitality of the phenomenal world.
Keywords
D. H. Lawrence, The Man Who Died, Invisibility, Phenomenal World, Phallic Reality, Resurrection, Religious Idealism, Consciousness, Sensuousness, Deconstruction, Identity, Symbolism, Pagan Rites, Vitalism, Modernism
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this paper?
The paper explores how D. H. Lawrence uses his novel The Man Who Died to challenge conventional religious idealism and represent the "invisible" vital forces of the physical, phenomenal world.
What central themes are addressed?
Key themes include the critique of Christian dogma, the shift from spiritual abstraction to physical "phallic" reality, the nature of consciousness, and the search for a new, "unmediated" experience of life.
What is the core research question?
The author investigates how Lawrence manages to make the "invisible vitality" of the living world visible, palpable, and ultimately more real than reality itself.
Which scientific methods are applied?
The paper utilizes a literary-critical and post-modern, deconstructive approach to analyze the narrative mechanics, paradoxes, and the symbolic structure of the novel.
What does the main body of the text cover?
The analysis covers the protagonist's rebirth from the tomb, his renunciation of past teachings, his interaction with the priestess of Isis, and the overarching tension between the visible and invisible worlds.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Keywords include D. H. Lawrence, Invisibility, Phenomenal World, Phallic Reality, Resurrection, Deconstruction, Vitalism, and Identity.
How does the protagonist’s "invisibility" function in the narrative?
The protagonist’s anonymity and social invisibility allow him to detach from his former identity as a religious teacher and move freely as an outcast, facilitating his immersion in the "phenomenal world."
What is the significance of the "phallic reality" mentioned in the text?
It represents the "fount of life" for Lawrence—a vital, inhuman, and elemental force that stands in direct opposition to the "death on the cross" and spiritual idealism.
How does the paper reinterpret the Resurrection?
It frames the Resurrection not as a divine spiritual event, but as a parody in which the protagonist survives because he was taken off the cross too early, leading him to reject his previous teachings in favor of earthly existence.
- Citation du texte
- Mansour Khelifa (Auteur), 2007, Invisibility in D.H. Lawrence's Short Novel "The Man Who Died". The Will to Be, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/314253
