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.