Littlewood’s implicit question is always: “What is the human significance of this writing? Does it signify an advance or a regression, not in ‘technique’ only, but in terms of the human development of this writer?” And he addresses himself to the common reader, in the common language, not the language of literary theory. What’s more, Littlewood showed (before anyone else) how Lawrence’s literary development depended crucially on revisions he made to stories that later appeared as The Prussian Officer and Other Stories, showed it by considering Lawrence’s literary development in the context of his human development. But Littlewood also shows how tradition—Charlotte Brontë, the Shakespeare of Hamlet—was renewed by Lawrence. Here is a totally new approach to Women in Love, reached through an understanding of the significance of Lawrence’s having revolutionised his style during the composition of that book. Above all, as Professor Brian Crick said of Littlewood’s work: [he offers] “the example of a man wholly attending in a fashion that calls for the insight into human emotions and an intelligence about life we expect from the authors we devote our lives to studying.”

ISBN 978 0 907839 61 3
hardback 325 pp. £30.00