The Essential T.E. Lawrence edited by David Garnett: book review

The Essential T.E. Lawrence (1992, first written in 1951) is an account of Lawrence of Arabia – the archaeologist, intelligence officer, soldier, polemicist, and diplomat. It is both an anthology (with a wide selection of Lawrence’s writings from his letters and books) and an autobiography.

Born in 1888 in Carnarvonshire in Wales, Thomas Edward was the second of five brothers. Intending in 1910 to be a photographer and establish his own printing press, he took his camera to the archaeological dig in Carchemish on the west banks of the Euphrates for a holiday and stayed for three years. Carchemish is on the frontier between Turkey and Syria, about 100 kilometres northeast of Aleppo in Syria. That was his first contact with Arab society, where he made lifelong friends.

He left Damascus in 1918 and reported to the War Office in London where he spent three years trying to gain freedom for Arabs – the failure during the Peace Conference affected him long afterwards. In 1921 Winston Churchill offered him a post, which he accepted, but soon after enlisted in the Royal Air Force. In 1922, he lived in Clouds Hill, a cottage near Bovington near the British army base in Dorset, England – a place he restored and called his home. After a stint with the Royal Tank Corps (the army), he returned to the air force until he was discharged from service in February 1935.

Three months after he left the military service, he died on May 13, 1935, at the age of 47, crashing his motor cycle near his home. Clouds Hills now belongs to the British National Trust, open to tourists.

The Essential T.E. Lawrence provides an insight into his military service, his health and state of mind, his home life, his relationship with the British military officials, and more importantly, his relationship with the Arabs who had a great respect for him. In some of his letters, he signs off “Lawrence from Arabia” and soon become known as Lawrence of Arabia. The 1955 Richard Aldington’s biography of Lawrence of Arabia revealed the good, the bad, and the ugly side of Thomas Edward, and was released in France under the title, “Lawrence L’Imposteur.’

Garnett’s book, reprinted in 1992, attempts to provide information for readers to decide whether the controversial Lawrence was an imposter or a hero, an adventurer or an attention seeker, a macho man or a homosexual. Despite the Aldington and Garnett books, Lawrence of Arabia continues to arouse sympathy, outrage, and excitement.

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