Literary Analysis Of D. H. Lawrence's Never Trust The Author

1. How may D.H. Lawrence’s injunction “Never trust the artist. Trust the tale” be aligned with Terry Eagleton’s proclamation that the value of literature is historical and grounded in socially produced values?

D.H. Lawrence’s injunction and Terry Eagleton’s proclamation align with each other because how Literature is written and read is subjective depending on the historical and social lenses of the time it was written, and the historical and social lenses at the time it was read. The author may say that their story was about the saving graces of faith in God (i.e. Rowlandson), but it may really be about personal survival and needing to rely on the individual. Depending on the historical period (say Puritan New England) and the social

The difference between the voices is that the Captive suggests that only God can deliver Rowlandson from her “imprisonment” and the Survivor suggests that it is the individual who is able to survive due to instincts and skills. This is the classic example of “Never trust the author. Trust the tale” as they produce different effects on her narrative. If you trust the author the narrative is seen as a story of devout faith and God’s reward for faith kept, that if you have faith in God all you need is God to live. If you trust the tale however you may see that Rowlandson only survived because of her skills in sewing and naturally courageous attitude adding God as a secondary thought. Depending on the voice you read, they narrative will change greatly with it.

4. How can De Tocqueville’s view of American frontier as the territory in which civilization and wilderness coexist help us understand Charles Brockden Brown’s “Somnambulism” which describes the frontier through Gothic literary

A Rebellious tone appears through the character of Sister Hope, “everyone tries to transcend, but she’s the only one to make progress. She the only one to survive” (Lecture). The irony that the men attempt (and fail) at “graceful tasks” such as farming to get closer to God and Sister Hope keeps her wits and moves past them is highly ironic from the initial setup. By the same token, a feminist tone is found in the character of Sister Hope. Using the quote from before the men attempt “graceful” work, yet it is Sister Hope who “saves the commune by harvesting wheat before a frost comes, she does all the useful house work, and though she is the only woman she is the most practical,” (Lecture) highly ironic for a community that exploited women and gave them no decision making power. Alcott’s opinion of communes becomes ironic in their practices versus their practicality. Transcendentalism is supposed to “exercise the mind and body as one transcends the limits of the individual” (Lecture) despite this the commune members are described as “inmates” with the leader being described as a “Dictator” ironically the community becomes the opposite of what it was supposed to be. From mind freeing to confined and