Out of Sheer Rage by Geoff Dyer is a book “which is intermittently a book about D.H. Lawrence”.
More of a random case history than a sober study, it not divided into chapters which might denote a level of planning and systematic analysis that Dyer is at pains to avoid. The only concession to academia is an index giving the sources of quoted lines.
The loose structure allows Dyer to be sidetracked and to rap and rant about anything that is happening in his life while engaged (or thinking about being engaged) in this project.
It also conveniently means that the finished result is not likely to be scrutinised by ‘expert texperts’. This is a deliberate ploy since, in Dyer’s unequivocal view, “academic criticism kills everything it touches”.
At one point he poses the provocative question towards those who may be tempted to judge from their ivory towers: “How can you know anything about literature if all you have done is read books?”
Ultimately this is a book Dyer felt he had to write to get Lawrence out of his system but while it was meant to alleviate psychological disarray, at times it has the opposite effect.
A lot of Dyer’s self-criticism is exaggerated for comic effect. He writes constantly about a crippling indecisiveness, an “unfocused anxiety” and endless bouts of procrastination and insecurity (“When I’m working I’m wishing I was doing nothing, when I’m doing nothing I’m wondering if I should be working”).
He presents himself as someone unable to see things through : “it’s a recurring problem this urge to abandon what I’ve set out to do in favour of something else, not because this other option is more enjoyable but simple because it is something else”. and maintains that “I’ve devoted more of my life to thoughts of giving up than anyone else I can think of”. Added to this is an admission of laziness :“I hate doing anything in life that requires an effort”.
But all these negative traits should be placed in perspective. For instance, they don’t seem to stop him from being a relatively prolific writer. To date he has written four novels, two collections of essays, five “genre-defying titles” and numerous magazine articles. He is currently working on a book about Tarkovsky’s film ‘Stalker’. In short, he is living proof of Samuel Beckett’s cynical take on the human capacity for perseverance against all the odds – “I can’t go on – I’ll go on”.
What this book does give is an honest account of the paranoid self-doubt that drives this particular writer’s life. If any conclusions can be drawn, they are that there is never a perfect environment for writing and it is impossible to be entirely free of distractions.
On top of this, the muse is often elusive and frequently non-existent. In Dyer’s case, he is also beset by the paradoxical dilemma whereby : “once I know enough about a subject to begin writing about it I lose interest in it immediately”.
But while he warns that this is “a book comprised entirely of irrelevancies”, he does end up giving some insights into Lawrence’s own moods and methods.
Dyer obviously regards his subject as a kindred spirit and finds the main point of connection through Lawrence’s letters and travel writing. The novels hold less interest for him and the only poems he mentions are Snake and The Ship Of Death.
Dyer writes that “If this book aspires to the condition of notes that is because, for me, Lawrence’s prose is at its best when it comes closest to notes”. What he admires in these writings are the way Lawrence is able to capture fleeting moods and in the process reveal an irascible nature that Dyer shares and admires.
The book’s title comes from a letter Lawrence wrote in 1914 : “Out of sheer rage I’ve begun a book on Thomas Hardy. It will be about anything but Thomas Hardy I am afraid – queer stuff – but not bad”.
Dyer’s own ‘queer’ book is part travel diary, part private journal and even a confessional of sorts. It is rambling, self-indulgent, funny and infuriating in equal measures.
