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Review commentary by Jeremy Wilson on Lawrence,
the Uncrowned King of Arabia by Michael Asher (London, Viking, 1998)
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Chapter 3: Nothing Which Qualified Him to be an Ordinary
Member of Society
Last year at school and first years at university, 1906-8
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31 last line |
Whatever he knew, Bob Lawrence would not, of course, have
revealed it. Predictably, he later claimed that TEL had invented the
enlistment. But Bob Lawrence was utterly untrustworthy on any issue that
touched the reputation of his family. He was either unscrupulous or
uncritical or both. I recall reading a letter (now I think
in Texas) in which he condemned Lawrence and the Arabs by Robert Graves and
recommended, in its place, one of the juvenile novels by Gurney Slade! |
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32 first para. |
The (unacknowledged) source for the Tuke history is the note in
my biography. I agree broadly with Asher's conclusion.
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| 32 Para 2 |
"elaboration - the vice of amateurs": the (unstated) source
is SP35 ch 103 (the "Myself" chapter). For Lawrence's "out of
depth" Asher has substituted "inadequate". Today, I think
"insecure" or "lacking in self-confidence" would more
accurately convey what, in the original context, Lawrence was talking about. The reason for Asher's choice of words (and lack of a reference) becomes clear
in the next sentence: "In a world of bigger, more athletic, more
physically powerful boys, his skills of "elaboration" were a
protective mechanism..." This is a gross distortion - and
obviously a deliberate one - of the Seven Pillars passage Asher is quoting.
Asher then spins his next great theme: Lawrence the masochistic
fantasizing
liar: "Though he was capable of building a sustained edifice of
falsehood, as he was later to do with John Bruce, his tendency was less to
fabricate than to inflate the prosaic into something of an altogether more
heroic order." The underlined statement (my underline) is
unsubstantiated spin. Asher never gets round to producing
convincing evidence or logic to support it. |
| 33/2/12 |
Here, Asher gets carried away by
his own bluff. Lawrence, he claims, invented
"a tale involving elements of violence, suffering and degradation about
which he fantasized. Fantasy, exaggeration, and distortion are the tools of
masochism . . ." And this is a chapter about 1906-8 !!! |
| 33/2/17 |
Asher links "There seemed a certainty in degradation, a final
safety" (also from the "Myself chapter") with the mention
in the same chapter a few lines further on, of coaling in Port Said. But in
Seven Pillars, what Lawrence remembers about the coaling was "the
after-taste of liberty" (in the 1922 text "the after-taste of real
liberty"). Most people would understand and sympathise with the appeal of
that to a young man - which is probably why Asher omits it.
Instead, he reverts to an earlier sentence [34/1/1] about the "animal
level beneath which [man] could not fall."
At this point, Asher gives yet
another incorrect reference: SPW, 1935, p. 581" The page number should be
564. Next page
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