Circulating Genius: John Middleton Murray, Katherine Mansfield and D. H. Lawrence

This title unveils the relationships and intertextualities between this coterie of modernist writers. The relationship between the personal lives of writers and the works they produce is at the heart of this intriguing new study. In particular, it reconsiders the place of John Middleton Murry (1889-1957) in the development of literary modernism in Britain. Drawing on Murry’s unpublished journals and long-forgotten novels, “Circulating Genius” examines his significance as a ‘circulator’ of ideas, reputations and critical positions in his roles of editor, literary critic, novelist, friend and lover and complicates the arguments of earlier biographers and critics about his relationships – both personal and professional – with Katherine Mansfield and D. H. Lawrence. It rewrites standard assumptions about John Middleton Murry’s relationships with Katherine Mansfield and D. H. Lawrence. It provides intertextual readings of fiction by Mansfield, Lawrence and Murry. It considers Murry’s controversial role in the dissemination of modernist critical positions. It explores marginalisation and centrality in the creation of the modernist canon.

Reviews of Circulating Genius: John Middleton Murray, Katherine Mansfield and D. H. Lawrence

'A significant contribution to modernist studies, Professor Kaplan's timely investigation of the Mansfield-Murry-Lawrence triangle illuminates their previously under-researched creative relationships. Her ability to convey the humour and drama of her subject and her fine scholarship are equally engaging.'Delia da Sousa Correa, Editor, Katherine Mansfield Studies