COLUMBIA
LIBRARY
COLUMNS
 

D. H. Lawrence and the
"Q.B." in Sardinia

PAUL R. PALMER

O/ie of the important manuscripts in the D. H. Laii-rence Collection,
which has been presented to the Columbia Libraries by Mrs. Alfred
M. Helhnan, is the booli-lengtli manuscript of the author's Sea and
Sardinia. In the article below, Paid R. Palmer, Theatre Arts Librarian
at Columbia, writes about the trip to Sardinia made by Lawrence and
his wife, Frieda, which became the subject of the travel booli men¬
tioned above.                                                               editor's note

^OMES over one the absolute necessity to move." In
that sentence which neatly characterizes the restless
spirit of his own adult life, David Herbert Lawrence
begins what many readers and critics believe to be his most success¬
ful travel book. Sea and Sardinia. In this volume, as well as in his
other travel books, the author develops themes which reveal as
much about himself as an exile and world explorer, as they do
about the countries and people which are the actual subjects.
Lawrence and his wife Frieda finally chose Sardinia for their win¬
ter holiday in 1921 rather than Spain or Africa, which they had
also considered. Early in the book Lawrence explains their choice:

Sardinia which is like nowhere. Sardinia which has no history, no date,
no race, no offering. Let it be Sardinia. They say neither Romans, nor
 

3