D. H. Lawrence and self-psychology

The work and life of D. H. Lawrence is examined as an example of Kohut's notion of the anticipatory function of art and as providing a rich source of material for examination of the respective importance in personality development of Oedipal conflict and the pre-Oedipal establishment of a sense of self. The importance of self-psychology as an expansion of psychoanalysis is noted and some of the ways Lawrence anticipated this development are described. It is also suggested that Lawrence provides convincing confirmation of a self-psychology view of creative drive, and a thesis is briefly expounded that in his major novels he was pursuing his own self-healing.