Lawrencian is the word, I think

Last night's discussion made me want to read more Lawrence. So.....

Beach reading, this morning: Love, Making Love to Music, Cocksure Women and Hensure Men, Sex versus Loveliness, Introduction to Pansies, Pornography and Obscenity--from a book of essays called Sex, Literature, and Censorship.

I almost totally agree with everything that he wrote in these essays--except Cocksure Women and Hensure Men--but Frieda took care of this for me--so I won't let this essay bother me. And I do agree with some parts.

Sex versus Loveliness is my favorite--because of the way L. talks about beauty as "experience, nothing else." If you're not sure what "else" is, take a look at a man or woman in a magazine advertisement, or go to a movie, or watch t.v. If you want to know what experience is, read the essay.

I also like L's defintion of a "lovely" woman (I could paraphrase here, but you should really read the essay) even if in the next paragraph he says, "The business man's pretty and devoted secretary is still chiefly valuable because of her sex appeal." He doesn't mean it like this, really. As if I need to defend him.

As far as the question 'to slap or to kiss' is concerned: a couple of times, in reading, I've wanted to slap him, but I've mostly wanted to kiss him. If he were alive, I think I'd slap him and then kiss him.

And I will say this, though I probably need to read more Lawrence to say so with any true authority: Lawrence loved women. And I love him for loving them. Or is it us.