LAWRENCE, D. H.

£8,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington

Autograph letter signed, to trade unionist and poet Charles Wilson. A highly significant New Year's message written to a group of miners at the Worker's Educational Association (WEA), sent via their secretary. Lawrence decries "industrial somnambulism", declaring that "We only live once: and during that once, never to live at all - why it's monstrous!".Lawrence goes on to outline a future in which all people are free to develop their own, deeper understanding of the world around them. He expresses no specific political affiliation, instead offering his own philosophy of radical vivacity as a curative: "not by hating capitalism or anything else: but by first pulling the feathers out of the money bird, and determining, sooner or later, to have something quite different: neither capitalism nor bolshevism, but men... And meanwhile we can all go ahead with the deepening and widening consciousness, which is the great job for each of us."Charles Wilson (1891-1968) was a miner from Willington, County Durham, who published poetry in the early 20th century. He was also an advocate of adult education and taught English literature for the WEA; it was in this capacity that he first contacted Lawrence. The author sympathized with his ideals and ventures. In a letter dated 5 December 1927, Lawrence stated "I'm a miner's son myself" (Lawrence, p. 229) and recommended his books for Wilson's class to read. On 2 February 1928, he sent Wilson copies of his works Psychoanalysis and the Unconsciou

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