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Sufism and the Quest for Spiritual Fulfilment in D.H. Lawrence's The Rainbow

By Fereshteh Zangenehpour
December 2000
Almqvist & Wiksell International
ISBN: 91-7346-380-9
240 pages
$63.50 paper original


This thesis is a study of Lawrence's religious concerns and focuses on how they took shape in his writing. Attention is primarily given to Lawrence as a mystical writer and the degree to which this distinction becomes evident in his novel, The Rainbow. In this context, Lawrence's well-established interest in ancient religions in linked to Sufism, particularly the Eastern School, and how these beliefs were given expression in Persian poetry. This thesis argues that Lawrence's text is informed by a cosmic sensibility which in many ways is similar to the sacred cosmology of Sufism. Likewise, Lawrence's aesthetic expression of physical and spiritual unity coincides with Sufism's amalgamation of the immanent and the transcendental aspects of life into an all-inclusive Oneness.

Literature
Gothenburg Studies in English, No. 80