SMLC Director of Studies Dr Sean Matthews recently gave an interview to the Manila Bulletin on the life and literature of his enduring academic interest, the writer D.H. Lawrence. Dr Matthews has published widely on cultural theory and 20th century literature, and has taught on these topics in Britain, Japan, the US, and, for the British Council, in Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. He directed the 2007 D.H. Lawrence International Conference, “Return to Eastwood”, and co-curated the exhibition “Lawrence Among the Women” at the Weston Gallery.
As Dr Matthews' interview reveals, his interest in all things Lawrencian has strong geographical roots. Both he and his literary hero were Nottingham-born-and-bred, and Lawrence is one of the University of Nottingham's most famous alumni.
"My interest in Lawrence really arose, very simply and naturally, from being born in the region from which he came – Nottingham in the Midlands of England – and growing up in the area he characterised as “the country of my heart’. His writing – fiction, non-fiction, poetry – not only captures the beauty of the countryside around Eastwood, and the character of living in that time and place, but also addressed many of the issues that many of us feel when we move away from our homes because of education or work. He explores in much of his work, too, the more metaphysical, emotional meanings of “home”, and of “belonging”: he was a man who valued rootedness and community, but seemed to spend all of his life in a restless, adventurous quest for those qualities."
The full interview can be found online at the Manila Bulletin.
Posted on 27th March 2012