An edition of D.H. Lawrence's verse and prose as contained in the Ada Lawrence Clarke Collection

Abstract

This thesis presents an edition of the largely unpublished Clarke Collection of holographs of D.H.Lawrence. The Ada Lawrence Clarke Collection, which is in the possession of Mr.W.H.Clarke, son of Ada and nephew of D.H.Lawrence, contains, in addition to many letters, postcards and documents, two poetry note-books and the early short stories and miscellaneous prose. This thesis concerns itself with these two poetry note-books and, in a separate shorter volume, with the early stories and miscellaneous prose. The two poetry note-books are presented in the first volume in as close a correspondence to the original as possible, with Lawrence's variants and interlineations, and each poem related to its later published version where one exists. Major differences in language, structure and form are presented in the notes to each poem. The Introduction to the volume of poetry examines the dating of the note-books, the relationship of the poems to Lswrence's other writings, their significance to Lawrence scholarship and criticism of his poetry but, more importantly, the Introduction serves to present a critico-interpretative evaluation of these early drafts in relation to their published versions. The second volume is a facsimile of the two poetry note-books photographically enlarged from a microfilm copy. The third volume, of short stories and miscellaneous prose, contains the earliest versions of two of the stories from The Prussian Officer and other Stories : "The White Stocking" and "A Fragment of Stained Glass"; the early story "A Fly in the Ointment"; the early literary criticism "Rachel Annand Taylor" and some draft chapters for Movements in European History. They are presented with Lawrence's interlineations and their value, particularly of the previously unseen versions of the stories, assessed.