T. E. Lawrence

:"Lawrence of Arabia" redirects here. For the motion picture, see Lawrence of Arabia (film).

Lawrence the author

Lawrence was a prolific writer throughout his life. A large proportion of his writing was epistolary and he often sent several letters a day. There are several large collections of his letters in print, some of which remain unfortunately expurgated by over-protective editors. His correspondents included many notable figures of the time, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves, and E.M. Forster.

Related Topics:
George Bernard Shaw - Edward Elgar - Winston Churchill - Robert Graves - E.M. Forster

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Lawrence translated Homer's Odyssey and The Forest Giant, an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He also authored The Mint, a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force. Working from a notebook kept while enlisted, Lawrence wrote of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself: the Royal Air Force. The book, with its sparse and sharp prose, is stylistically very different from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It was published posthumously.

Related Topics:
Homer - Odyssey - The Forest Giant - French - Fiction - The Mint - Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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Seven Pillars is Lawrence's masterpiece. As a whole, the book is a memoir of his experiences during the war, but parts of it also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. Seven Pillars is an immense work, extremely dense with complicated syntax, but Lawrence clearly communicates through his prose and the book is stunningly beautiful, poignant, and at times even comic.

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Lawrence re-wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times; once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains. As to the truth of his narrative, with Lawrence it is always difficult to untangle reality from mythology, and the man himself seemed to enjoy mingling fact and fiction; his complex relationship with himself results in passages which alternately belittle his accomplishments and influence and expand on his role in the revolt. Seven Pillars is a fascinating work as an autobiography, a study of history, or psychology.

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George Bernard Shaw helped Lawrence edit the book, aiding him especially with grammatical errors.

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In the preface to Seven Pillars, TEL offered his "...thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Shaw for countless suggestions of great value and diversity: and for all the present semicolons."

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