The Duality of High and Low Culture in D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover Cover Image

The Duality of High and Low Culture in D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover
The Duality of High and Low Culture in D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Author(s): Dilek BULUT SARIKAYA
Subject(s): Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), Theory of Literature, British Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Namık Kemal Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi
Keywords: D. H. Lawrence; Lady Chatterley’s Lover; cultural studies; high culture; low culture;

Summary/Abstract: Lawrence, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), reflects the post-war modern British society which condemns its individuals into a psychological trauma of ongoing conflicts between different classes and cultures. Advocating the exigency of a classless society, Lawrence shatters the hegemonic ideology of the highbrow culture which disdains working class culture as vulgar, coarse and commonplace. Reacting against the cultural displacement of working classes who are considered as masses, Lawrence indulges in revealing the authenticity and earnestness of the working class culture. Lawrence’s depiction of an uncorrupt ethical standing of the working class culture is the negation of the concept of culture, associated with high class manners and ways of life. The prevailing concern of this study, therefore, will be to analyze Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover from the perspective of cultural studies to unravel the clash of high and low cultures in relation to the hierarchical class structure of the post-war England.

  • Issue Year: 11/2023
  • Issue No: 21
  • Page Range: 87-105
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: English