Developing a new aesthetic: the figure of the modern artist in D.H. Lawrence's major novels
Date
2006-05
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Publisher
Texas Tech University
Abstract
In his major novels, D.H. Lawrence develops the figure of the modern artist that very closely resembles the flaneur as it is developed primarily in the work of Walter Benjamin. Both authors record images of the artist in response to the rise of the industrial complex in the modernist era. The artist becomes a "Man of the Crowd," preserving his observations of the lower- and middle-classes within various artistic media. Lawrence's aesthetic values a vital sense of connection that prevents normal human interaction while simulatenously highlighting the necessity of experience.