This pseudo-philosophy of mine - pollyanalytics, as one of my respected critics might say - is deduced from the novels and poems, not the reverse. The novels and poems come unwatched out of one's pen. And then the absolute need which one has for some sort of satisfactory mental attitude towards oneself and things in general makes one try to abstract some definite conclusions from one's experiences as a writer and as a man. The novels and poems are pure passionate experience. These pollyanalytics are inferences made afterwards, from the experience.
After the release of D.H Lawrence's compelling novel, Sons and Lovers, which details a complicated and borderline abusive relationship between a mother and son, many critics sought issues with the content, accusing Lawrence of writing a shameful and incestuous novel. Amid this criticism, Lawrence was inspired to write Fantasia of the Unconscious, explaining the themes and topics that often find their way into his work while defending himself against the raging criticism of Sons and Lovers. Though Lawrence admits his bias, as well as acknowledging that he is not a scientist nor a scholar, he supports his psychoanalytic claims and raises concerns that had previously been unvoiced. First, Lawrence debunks popular Freudian psychology and Oedipus theories, mainly to defend his novel, Sons and Lovers, which was semi-autobiographical, from the claims that the mother and son depicted in the novel had a sexual relationship. Lawrence continues to analyze social practices and expectations of marriage, raising children, education, and political action. He challenged the very idea of self, which is a cornerstone of Western culture. Furthermore, Lawrence articulates the mental struggles that exists between emotional and intellectual identities, discussing the polarity of each and the cases in which they intersect, causing a turmoil of contradiction. Though he is not trained in the science, D.H Lawrence spent a lifetime writing about human observations that others found too grotesque or taboo to acknowledge, allowing Lawrence to have a certain expertise on such issues. With psychoanalytic theory, Lawrence supports his views, theories, and philosophies that often invited controversy in the literary and social realm. With poem-like prose and abstract ideas, D.H Lawrence proposes theories that surprises and compels readers. Described as being ahead of its time, Fantasia of the Unconscious introduces ideas that can be examined in practice in modern society. With insight on topics of education, marriage, and social norms, Fantasia of the Unconscious is an illuminating guide to D.H Lawrence's other works. This edition of Fantasia of the Unconscious is now presented in an easy-to-read font and features a new, eye-catching cover design to cater to contemporary readers.
ÊPublished: 1922 "I am not a proper archaeologist nor an anthropologist nor an ethnologist. I am no "scholar" of any sort. But I am very grateful to scholars for their sound work. I have found hints, suggestions for what I say here in all kinds of scholarly books, from the Yoga and Plato and St. John the Evangel and the early Greek philosophers like Herakleitos down to Fraser and his "Golden Bough," and even Freud and Frobenius. Even then I only remember hints--and I proceed by intuition. This leaves you quite free to dismiss the whole wordy mass of revolting nonsense, without a qualm."
D. H. Lawrence wrote Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious and Fantasia of the Unconscious in the early 1920s, during his most productive period. Initially intended as a response to psychoanalytic criticism of his novel Sons and Lovers, these works progressed into a counterproposal to the Freudian psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious and the incest motive. They also voice Lawrence's concepts of education, marriage, and social and political action.
D. H. Lawrence wrote Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious and Fantasia of the Unconscious. Initially intended as a response to psychoanalytic criticism of his novel Sons and Lovers, these works progressed into a counterproposal to the Freudian psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious and the incest motive.
The present book is a continuation from "Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious." The generality of readers had better just leave it alone. The generality of critics likewise. I really don't want to convince anybody. It is quite in opposition to my whole nature. I don't intend my books for the generality of readers. I count it a mistake of our mistaken democracy, that every man who can read print is allowed to believe that he can read all that is printed. I count it a misfortune that serious books are exposed in the public market, like slaves exposed naked for sale. But there we are, since we live in an age of mistaken democracy, we must go through with it. I warn the generality of readers, that this present book will seem to them only a rather more revolting mass of wordy nonsense than the last. I would warn the generality of critics to throw it in the waste paper basket without more ado. As for the limited few, in whom one must perforce find an answerer, I may as well say straight off that I stick to the solar plexus. That statement alone, I hope, will thin their numbers considerably. [...]
Advertisement placed in The Dial Magazine, upon initial publication of this book: The new book by D. H. Lawrence “FANTASIA of the UNCONSCIOUS” A new and remarkable statement of Lawrence's philosophy. Here is the "original system of philosophy" predicted by Don Marquis when he wrote in the New York Tribune of Lawrence's “Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious” that he: "recommends it because Lawrence is a poet who sees deeper and more clearly than Freud and Jung, is simpler, and free of their obsessions and absurdities." "Mr. Lawrence has some very original views on the question of education, the bringing up of children, marriage, love and other vital issues of human relationship." In our opinion it is the most important work that has appeared since the publication of Nietzsche's "Zarathustra."
