No one wrote dialogue like D.H. Lawrence

Why is it that no one wrote dialogue like D.H. Lawrence? Probably because he based his approach on two things: a correct understanding of form and an ability to translate what he knew intuitively about people onto the written page. These two conditions are essential to good dialogue, and understanding his approach can help even beginning writers craft lively, intelligent dialogue.

The first thing to understand is correct form. This entails giving a line of speech, and an attribution. Lawrence observes good form in all cases. In Women In Love, for instance, there is a scene in chapter 6 which illustrates Lawrence's command of this device of dialogue. Gerald and Rupert are in a cafe talking with a Miss Darrington, whom Gerald finds attractive. The key to the dialogue is in Lawrence's descriptions of the participants between each speech.

"How long are you staying?" she asked him.
"A day or two," he replied. "But there is no particular hurry."
Still, she stared into his face with that slow, full gaze which was so curious and so exciting to him. He was acutely and delightfully conscious of himself, of his own attractiveness. He felt full of strength, able to give off a soft of electric power. And he was aware of her blue, exposed-looking eyes upon him. She had beautiful eyes, flower-like, fully opened, naked in their looking at him. And on them there seemed to float a curious iridescence, a sort of film of disintegration, and sullenness, like oil on water. (Note 1)

The extended description of Gerald's reaction to the girl and the loving attention given to the description of her eyes provides a world of detail not commonly given in dialogue in most novels. Lawrence was unique in his ability to find the right language to describe eyes, looks, and expressions. He also knew what was relevant: Gerald's desire, the girl's staring at him, the prolonged gaze, the way they looked at one another, and the words that would express it in a language full of connotation and emotion. Where could he have learned this skill? Certainly it is not apparent in any other novelist, although there were descriptions of couples in Hardy and George Eliot, both of whom he admired.

He told Jesse Chambers, his girlfriend, how he proposed to begin The White Peacock.

"The usual plan is to take two couples and develop their relationships," he said. "Most of George Eliot's are on that plan. Anyhow, I don't want a plot. I should be bored with it. I shall try two couples for a start." (Note 2)

The same plan was used for Women in Love, the two couples being the sisters Ursula and Gudrun, and the two men being Rubert and Gerald, two close friends. But Lawrence focused more on the relationships of the individuals than on the plot, and the story has a kind of episodic feel to it. Each chapter is filled with scenes depicting the deep emotional relationships. Lawrence clearly picked up some skills from his predecessors, but he developed the technique of good dialogue through his own invention.

References

1. 1920. Women In Love. New York: Penguin, 1983. Page 57.
2. Lawrence, quoted in D.H. Lawrence and Germany: The Politics of Influence. By Carl Krockel. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007.