D.H. Lawrence, part 4

Anais Nin wrote her first book in 1932: D.H. Lawrence, An Unprofessional Study.

In the chapter called "Women in Love," Anais says that Lawrence's characters cannot be understood without the "artist-key" because they are creators and poets, just as he is. They are not "normal" people.

Birkin is a projection of Lawrence. Anais writes, "The visible is less important than the invisible, the unknown, the inarticulate."

Birkin asks Ursula: "What are you? What am I? What is love? What is the center of our life?" He tells her what he wants: "What I want is a strange conjunction with you  - not a meeting and mingling, but an equilibrium, a pure balance of two single beings - as the stars balance each other."

Another character in the book is Hermione, who believes she stands for spiritual truth. However, she is empty and has no center. She is uncreative in art and in living.

Gerald is a handsome man who has had many mistresses but has never loved. Birkin asks him what the center of his life is, and he responds by saying there is no center. "It is artificially held together by the social mechanism," he says. Birkin suggests the love of one woman could be the center of one's life. Without love, Gerald is limited, empty, hollow, miserable on the inside while appearing full of riches on the outside. He represents the man's world - the outside, mindless sensuality.

Both Birkin and Gerald ultimately desire to be fulfilled in woman. Birkin and Ursula marry, and though he is happy and loves her deeply, he is not fully satisfied. He must continue to evolve, renew, become.