Lawrence's vision of life, as embodied in his novels, doesn't have a fixed, complete form. It is a developing vision, vividly changing in the vovels as it takes shape in his creative imagination. Lawrence never actually attached himself to real-life d...
Lawrence's vision of life, as embodied in his novels, doesn't have a fixed, complete form. It is a developing vision, vividly changing in the vovels as it takes shape in his creative imagination. Lawrence never actually attached himself to real-life dictator nor became a dictator himself. but he sought and created fantasy leaders in his leadership novels. it is in this sense that Lawrence's novels are a record of his "life and thought adventure".
Aaron's Rod continues Lawrence's "life and thought adventure" at the point where Women in Love left it, and further explores the theme of man-woman relationship, defining at length man's need for coming into possession of his own soul. In Aaron's Rod, Lawrence explains the need for man-to-man relationship and goes on to experiment with one of the possible forms that such a relationship could assume. Further, he searches for the leader-follower relationship through the relation between Lilly and Aaron.
Kangaroo is another record of Lawrence's fulfillment of the complex and strong yearnings he had for power, the yearnings he had to be master and make others his followers. He attempts to experiment with the possibility of becoming a leader of men in a more or less purely invented situation, set in Australia. But he comes to realize that he cannot achieve his ideal leadership in politics because it invloves going against his convictions. He explores in the novel artistically a significant phase of our life in terms of man's complex relationships between man and woman, and between man and man.
The Plumed Serpent continues Lawrence's unceasing search for ideal leadership. In Aaron's Rod and Kangaroo, the direction taken in this quest involves a movement away from contact with mankind. The Plumed Serpent, to restore the balance, makes a move in the other direction by laying stress on man's need to be livingly related not only to the dark God, Quetzalcoatl, but also to humanity and to the life of universe around him. Lawrence regards this novel as the most important novel because in the novel he achieves the ideal leadership not only by establishing dualistic system of leadership- "the balance of love and power" -but by creating a myth to suit his purpose.