WORTHEN, John

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: Cambridge Univerisity, B.A.; Kent University, M.A. and Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of English Studies, the University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England.

CAREER:

University of Nottingham, professor of D.H. Lawernce Studies.

WRITINGS:

D. H. Lawrence and the Idea of the Novel, Rowman and Littlefield (Totowa, NJ), 1979.

D. H. Lawrence: A Literary Life, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1989.

D. H. Lawrence, E. Arnold (London, England), 1991.

D. H. Lawrence, the Early Years, 1885-1912, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with Paul Eggert) Lawrence and Comedy, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

The Gang: Coleridge, the Hutchinsons and Wordsworths in 1802, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2001.

(Editor, with Ezra Greenspan and Lindeth Vasey) Studies in Classic American Literature/D.H. Lawrence, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

EDITOR OF BOOKS BY D. H. LAWRENCE

The Lost Girl, Cambridge University (New York, NY), 1981, revised edition, Penguin (New York, NY) 1995.

The Rainbow, Penguin (New York, NY), 1981.

The Prussian Officer and Other Stories, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1983, revised edition, Penguin (New York, NY), 1995.

Love Among the Haystacks and Other Stories, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1987, revised edition, Penguin (New York, NY), 1996.

(With David Farmer and Lindeth Vasey) Women in Love, Penguin Books (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Lindeth Vasey) The First 'Women in Love', Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Hans-Wilhelm Schwarze) The Plays, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Contributed "The Life of D. H. Lawrence" biography section to D. H. Lawrence: A Reference Companion, Paul Poplawski, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1996.

SIDELIGHTS:

Since the late 1970s, University of Nottingham professor John Worthen has built a reputation as one of today's leading D. H. Lawrence scholars. He's published three biographies of Lawrence and edited more than half a dozen editions of Lawrence's works.

The first of Worthen's books to receive widespread critical and mainstream attention was 1989's D. H. Lawrence: A Literary Life, which focused on Lawrence as a professional writer and examined how his finances and the marketplace influenced his writing. Paul Delany of the London Review of Books stated that "Worthen argues convincingly that economic necessity directly affected Lawrence's style and choice of subjects." Charles Rossman, in Modern Fiction Studies, notes that the author "is interested in the tension that Lawrence felt during his entire writing life between 'earning a living with his pen' and 'saying exactly what he wanted.'" Choice's M. Tucker praised Worthen's "novel and fascinating approach to a writer's biography," and declared D. H. Lawrence: A Literary Life "An impressive summary of DHL's career."

In 1991 Worthen penned the first volume of the Cambridge University Press's three-volume biography of Lawrence. D. H. Lawrence, the Early Years, 1885-1912 covered how the author's childhood in Eastland and the Midlands, the role of class in his upbringing, his teaching stint in London, and his early relationships laid the groundwork for his later writing. Daniel J. Schneider, in the Modern Language Review, felt that "Worthen … has seen Lawrence's early life freshly, penetratingly, and with remarkable objectivity." James Fenton, in the New York Review of Books, found that "Worthen is particularly good on the background—the nuances of class, what was poverty, what was a respectable income." Karen McLeod of the Review of English Studies praised how "Worthen ingeniously manages to combine Lawrentian fluidity and a coherent structure" to create a "subtle and humane biography."

For Lawrence and Comedy Worthen teamed with Paul Eggert to edit a collection of writings illuminating Lawrence's oft-ignored humor. Mara Kalnins of Notes and Queries appreciated the effort, stating, "It is a tribute to Eggert, Worthen and their contributors to this fine volume that they have redressed the imbalance of received critical opinion on Lawrence and revealed not only the gaiety and sense of fun that characterized [Lawrence] … but also the energetic wordplay, wit, humour, and laughter … that informs his art."

In 2001 Worthen expanded his circle from Lawrence to address another of his literary interests: Wordsworth and Coleridge. The Gang: Coleridge, the Hutchinsons and Wordsworths in 1802 looks at the tight group that formed around the two Romantic poets during an intense six-month period in 1802, a "gang" that included Wordsworth's sister Dorothy and the Hutchinson sisters Sara and Mary. The book explores the dynamics of the group's relationships leading up to Wordsworth's marriage to Mary Hutchinson in October of 1802, and examines how the social situation created a fertile environment for Coleridge and Wordsworth to pen some of their most important poems. A contributor to Publishers Weekly stated that "Worthen does a fine job balancing the personal with the critical and offers those who idolize one or both of the poets much to consider."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, April, 1990, M. Tucker, review of D. H. Lawrence: A Literary Life, p. 1326; June, 1999, J. E. Steiner, review of The First 'Women in Love', p. 1787.

English Language Notes, December 12, 1997, Mark Spilka, review of Lawrence and Comedy, pp. 74-79.

English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, spring, 2000, Peter Balbert, review of The First 'Women in Love', pp. 236-239; winter, 2001, J. P. Wearing, review of The Plays, pp. 122-125.

Essays in Criticism, October 10, 1988, Charles L. Ross, review of Women in Love, pp. 342-351.

Library Journal, March 1, 2001, Scott Hightower, review of The Gang: Coleridge, the Hutchinsons and Wordsworths in 1802, p. 93.

London Review of Books, January 24, 1991, Paul Delany, "Keeping Up the Fight," review of D.H. Lawrence: A Literary Life, pp. 22-23.

Modern Fiction Studies, winter, 1990, Charles Rossman, review of D. H. Lawrence: A Literary Life, pp. 604-608.

Modern Language Review, April, 1993, Daniel J. Schneider, review of D. H. Lawrence, the Early Years, 1885-1912, pp. 433-435.

National Review, May 27, 1988, Jeffrey Meyers, review of Women in Love, p. 54.

New York Review of Books, October 22, 1998, James Fenton, "Men, Women & Beasts," review of D.H. Lawrence, the Early Years, 1885-1912, pp. 51-58.

Notes and Queries, June, 1993, Mara Kalnins, review of D. H. Lawrence, the Early Years, 1885-1912, pp. 261-263; September, 1998, Mara Kalnins, review of Lawrence and Comedy, pp. 402-404; December 12, 1999, Mara Kalnins, review of The First 'Women in Love', pp. 553-554.

Publishers Weekly, August 2, 1991, review of D. H. Lawrence, the Early Years, 1885-1912, p. 56; February 26, 2001, review of The Gang, p. 75.

Review of English Studies, February, 1993, Karen McLeod, review of D. H. Lawrence, the Early Years, 1885-1912, p. 142.*