I came to Penn State as a visiting professor last August. At Penn State, with its many resource materials, I am doing research concerning D.H. Lawrence's life and writings. I had always wanted to go to his birth country but could not because it was far from Korea. But last November I was invited there by a former student of mine. I went to Eastwood in Nottingham to see his historical remains.

In Lawrence's fiction we surely approach life's truth of his time. I remember Roy Spencer once said, "What Essex is to Thomas Hardy and the Lake is to Wordsworth, Eastwood and the surrounding country are to D.H. Lawrence." But I realized what I could see and talk about were the ingredients, not the dish.

I visited Lawrence's birth house. Every item told a story. The house was turned into a Lawrence information center and museum, and there are many visitors.

Lawrence has become a legend as a writer. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, "Art is long, life is short." I believe Lawrence's name and art should be immortal. He is the author controverial novels, a number of travel books and essays and a body of poetry. I believe he is a star in the ascendant.

Today, Lawrence is regarded as a bold experimental writer. In particular, Sons and Lovers, published in 1913, is based on the author's own experience. It was one of the first "Freudian novels." It deals with the Oedipus-complex. Now his novels are read all over the world. After reading Lawrence, I concluded one of the things he attempted to do was show that the sex relation can be "valid and precious" instead of shameful.