by Graham Hough, Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge

Byron and D.H. Lawrence both found in self-exile the freedom which their genius required: both ventured into the unknown and pursued the destiny of the individual soul where the outer restraints of society are removed. But there, Mr. Hough argues, the similarity between the two writers ends. For Lawrence, the modern mental traveller, being better equipped, was able not only to venture into the unknown but to bring back reliable reports. Mr. Hough ends by suggesting that neither kind of exploration is going to be possible very much longer.
(BBC recording)

This is a broadcast version of last year's Byron Foundation Lecture at the University of Nottingham.