Anais Nin wrote this essay about D.H. Lawrence in October, 1930 under a pseudonym. It became the basis for her first book, D.H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study.
In it, she describes Lawrence as "against tepid living and tepid loves. He resented the lack of feeling in people, or what is worse, the lack of expression of such feelings; he wanted a fulfillment of physical life equal to the mental; he wanted to reawaken impulse, and the clairvoyance of our intuitions." He had an emotional knowledge that appealed to her.
She understood him; she identified with him; his words resonated with her. Even though Lawrence writes about sex, he does so with sensitivity, as a poet would. Anais writes that "he described perfectly two sides of life: the sexual and the mystical." The physical and a second world.
Anais Nin's study of D.H. Lawrence helped her discover herself, both as a writer and as a woman.
