The Journal of the DH Lawrence Society of Australia

ISSN No: 1039-9658
www.dhlawrencesocietyaustralia.com.au

AWRENCE and Frieda returned to the streets of Sydney - and Thirroul - recently when a film crew began shooting a docu-drama based on the Kangaroo paintings by Garry Shead.

Two actors (scholteachers from Garry's "home town" - Bundeena - (north of Thirroul) played Lawrence and Frieda for this recreation of the visit Mr and Mrs Lawrence made to Sydney 90 years ago, in May to August 1922.

For the film, Produced by Cris Parker, Garry interviewed Rob Darroch, whose book DH Lawrence in Australia, had been partly the inspiration for the Kangarroo series, and he asked Rob to act as "location manager" for a day to guide the film team around the various places Lawrence visited while in Syndye. (Rob will publish "In the Footsteps of Lawrence" in the next issue of Rananim.)

BECAUSE I'm researching Lawrence's novel The Lost Girl, and Katherine Mansfield's influence on it (see page 2), I commissioned the Googlebot Alert to scour the Internet for relevant references. As a result I receive about ten items per week about all kinds of Lawrence matters.

The other other day I received an Alert which intrigued me.

It said:

Lost thin ORANGE WALLET with D.H. Lawrence's "The Lost Girl" on ...
I lost a thin little wallet holding my several cards. it's orange and looks like a tiny book cover. it reads "the lost girl" by dh lawrence. reward if found. Location: NYC ...
newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/laf/3281535441.html

So I sent an email to the Craigs List address on the Alert, saying:

I saw your item on Craigslist. I'm sorry I can't find your wallet because I'm in Australia, but I'm interested in DH Lawrence's Lost Girl and have written about my discovery that he based much of his heroine Alvina on the writer Katherine Mansfield. Can you tell me why you wrote dh lawrence the lost girl on your wallet? I hope you find it!

Sandra

The same day I received this reply from a person named J. Challa:

As much of a literary person I consider myself, I am ashamed to say I've never actually read this book and never came across Lawrence academically. The wallet was a gift by someone who said I reminded them of Alvina. I guess I'm a lost girl with a lost wallet :(. I suppose I should read it now that I am broke and can't do anything for a few days until I get my cards and cash replaced. Was this a dissertation ? And why are you on the New York CL if you're Austrailian?

I replied:

Good to hear back from you. The reason I get links to CL is that I have asked the Googlebot to crawl everywhere and bring back to me anything about DH Lawrence and The Lost Girl So you can see how thorough it is.

I will be putting my article up on our DH Lawrence Society of Australia website in about two week's' time and I'll let you know when it's up as you might be interested to know more about Alvina Houghton, the heroine. She was a courageous young woman who defied the local, conservative attitude towards women in those days and went and became a nurse, Later she returned to her home town and played piano in her father's cinema. Then she ran off with an Italian member of a travelling troupe and ended up marrying him and going to live in the mountains in Italy.

I'd like to put a little item in our journal about you and your wallet, if you agree. It's a nice little DH Lawrence trivia item. What is your first name and do you have a photo you could send me?

Our journal is called Rananim and you can view it at http://www.dhlawrencesocietyaustralia.com.au

So you will see I'm a genuine person!

Best wishes,

Sandra

The next email from NY said:

Wow, I see how I am like Alvina. I started reading the book already and I can't believe I didn't encounter this before! My name is Janaki Challa. I'm a 23-year-old essayist and writer in New York, with a love of postcolonial and transcendentalist literature, and I'm also a graduate student at New York University. I think you stumbling upon my post so serendipitously is really charming- especially if it involves an essay...

Janaki

Here is a photo Janaki sent: