Bulashova N. M.

H. Lawrence’s Italy: History and Modernity (Travel Book Sea and Sardinia) P. 152 –158.

UDC 821.111-311.8.09«19»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2023.78.1.014

Abstract. The article is dedicated to travel literature in the works of English modernist writer D. H. Lawrence (1885—1930). The author traveled a lot, composing numerous travelogues. This side of his creative heritage seems to be insufficiently studied. The aim of the article is to demonstrate the originality of Lawrence’s travelogue and to highlight his key themes and motives in the travel book Sea and Sardinia (1921). We analyze the writer’s method of structuring the text into chapters. The author’s favorite technique which he uses in this book, is juxtaposition and opposition. The author compares insular (Sardinia) and continental Italy: landscape, the ratio of static and dynamic, people in general and relations between men and women in particular; the language. On the one hand, Lawrence notes the uniqueness of Sardinia, and on the other hand, he states its similarity with other places. Sardinia attracts Lawrence more, he notes its intemporality or timelessness (which acquires a positive meaning in the light of opposition of past and present). Other important themes analyzed are the motif of traveling realized in the image of the road (which acquires both direct and figurative, symbolic meanings); the motif of food (food means more than achieving satiety); as well as the motif of theatrical performance. Lawrence’s particular interest does not lie in describing the sights, but in people (the reader meets a whole gallery of characters). The peculiarity of Lawrence as a writer is his use of numerous allusions to works of culture. The book Sea and Sardinia is an original phenomenon in the history of the travelogue genre, combining features of fiction and non-fiction literature.

 

Keywords: Lawrence, travel book, Italy, Sardinia, juxtaposition and opposition technique, the motif of touch, the motif of traveling, the motif of food, the motif of theatrical performance.

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