Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Barry J. Scherr

Critical Essay by Barry J. Scherr

SOURCE: Scherr, Barry J. “‘The Prussian Officer’: A Lawrentian Allegory.” Recovering Literature: A Journal of Contextualist Criticism 17 (1989-1990): 33-42.

In the following essay, Scherr reads “The Prussian Officer” as an allegory for Lawrence's metaphysical concerns-specifically, the balance between the concepts of mental consciousness and blood consciousness.

One of Lawrence's most famous short stories, “The Prussian Officer,” has received considerable attention from numerous literary critics who have interpreted the work in various ways.¹ But none of these fine Lawrence critics has dealt with what may be the most important contribution of “The Prussian Officer” to the understanding of Lawrence's greatness as artist and thinker. For, as F. R. Leavis points out, “A major creative writer knows that in composing and writing a major creative work his concern is to refine and develop his profounder thought about life,”² and “Lawrence's genius is that of a supremely great novelist—which is to say...
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