My conscience is at rest concerning the many omissions
of notable names from this survey. If it pricks me at all
it is for failure to treat Trollope and Borrow in the last
century and D. H. Lawrence in this. The last omission
explains itself from the fact that after the turn of the cen-
tury I have dealt mainly with experimentalists in form,
and here Lawrence is not a prevailing example. But his
sheer importance on other grounds compels me to more
than a passing mention of his brilliant and significant
work. The romancers and adventure writers I must regret-
fully leave unexplored, though I am mindful of the many
pleasant and profitable hours they have yielded me. If I
were to write a chapter entitled "Delightful Novels" it
would argue the case for relaxation in all sincerity. A
philosophical colleague of mine told me the other day of
his struggles with a book of William Faulkner's. To find
relief and lucidity he turned not as he might have done to
Stevenson, Hewlett, or Don Byrne but to a graduate thesis
on Professor Whitehead. The instance might readily be
multiplied.

There is nothing to puzzle us in the mere text of a Law-
rence book. His presentation is straightforward, his lan-
guage clear; our difficulty arises from the profound strange-
ness of the experiences he seeks to communicate. No
novels of our day have been so strikingly self-revealing.

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