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Rubenadriaan Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary
D.H. Lawrence question
Hi,
In Lady Chatterley's Lover, the narrator talks about the novel (in general):
But the novel, like gossip, can also excite spurious sympathies and recoils, mechanical and deadening to the psyche. The novel can glorify the most corrupt feelings, so long as they are conventionally "pure".
I don't understand the underlined part at all...The italics on 'conventionally' as well as the quotes on 'pure' are not mine!; I know what the words mean, just not the point of this clause.
Can anybody help? Much thanks!
In Lady Chatterley's Lover, the narrator talks about the novel (in general):
But the novel, like gossip, can also excite spurious sympathies and recoils, mechanical and deadening to the psyche. The novel can glorify the most corrupt feelings, so long as they are conventionally "pure".
I don't understand the underlined part at all...The italics on 'conventionally' as well as the quotes on 'pure' are not mine!; I know what the words mean, just not the point of this clause.
Can anybody help? Much thanks!
Top answer
Here are a couple of general comments. The italics add emphasis to the word conventionally . The quotes indicate the writer is suggesting that the normal meaning of the word 'pure' is not correct in this context.
- Here are a couple of general comments.
- The italics add emphasis to the word conventionally .
- The quotes indicate the writer is suggesting that the normal meaning of the word 'pure' is not correct in this context.
- Clive
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2 Answers
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It's a hard sentence to interpret out of context.Here are a couple of general comments.
The italics add emphasis to the word conventionally.
The quotes indicate the writer is suggesting that the normal meaning of the word 'pure' is not correct in this context.
The italics add emphasis to the word conventionally.
The quotes indicate the writer is suggesting that the normal meaning of the word 'pure' is not correct in this context.
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Thanks!
The part before the sentence in question is
It is the way our sympathy flows and recoils that really determines our lives. And here lies the vast importance of the novel, properly handled. It can inform and lead into new places the flow of our sympathetic consciousness, and it can lead our sympathy away in recoil from things gone dead. Therefore, the novel, properly hand
The part before the sentence in question is
It is the way our sympathy flows and recoils that really determines our lives. And here lies the vast importance of the novel, properly handled. It can inform and lead into new places the flow of our sympathetic consciousness, and it can lead our sympathy away in recoil from things gone dead. Therefore, the novel, properly hand
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