Details
LAWRENCE, T. E. (1888-1935). Autograph letter signed ("T. E. Lawrence") to Mr. Garvin, London, 18 November 1919. 2 pages, 8vo, matted and framed with a late, black and white photo of Lawrence
"LAWRENCE OF ARABIA" ON THE MIDDLE EAST: IT "LOOKS A SAD TANGLE, BECAUSE OUR FOCUS IS WRONG"
With his wartime exploits at Damascus and Aqabah gaining national publicity, Britons looked on T. E. Lawrence as not only a dashing military hero, but an expert on the Middle East. Here he parries a request to offer his views on the volatile situation: "George Lloyd told me of you, naturally, and I'd be delighted to talk to you personally about the Middle East: (which looks a sad tangle, because our focus is wrong: all's very well, really): only I can't write, either now or in the future about it, since most of my views are based on official information, and it wouldn't do to give it away. I know I'm supposed to have written upon it, but actually all I did was one short letter to the Times (not controversial) and that was by request..." In a postscript he says, "By the way I'm not a Colonel now!" In The Times he asked whether the Arabs were to be rewarded for throwing off one tyrant by talking on another. While telling Garvin he had no plans to write about Arabia "now or in future," he was, of course, privately at work on his masterpiece, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which he completed in 1922, and privately printed in 1926.
"LAWRENCE OF ARABIA" ON THE MIDDLE EAST: IT "LOOKS A SAD TANGLE, BECAUSE OUR FOCUS IS WRONG"
With his wartime exploits at Damascus and Aqabah gaining national publicity, Britons looked on T. E. Lawrence as not only a dashing military hero, but an expert on the Middle East. Here he parries a request to offer his views on the volatile situation: "George Lloyd told me of you, naturally, and I'd be delighted to talk to you personally about the Middle East: (which looks a sad tangle, because our focus is wrong: all's very well, really): only I can't write, either now or in the future about it, since most of my views are based on official information, and it wouldn't do to give it away. I know I'm supposed to have written upon it, but actually all I did was one short letter to the Times (not controversial) and that was by request..." In a postscript he says, "By the way I'm not a Colonel now!" In The Times he asked whether the Arabs were to be rewarded for throwing off one tyrant by talking on another. While telling Garvin he had no plans to write about Arabia "now or in future," he was, of course, privately at work on his masterpiece, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which he completed in 1922, and privately printed in 1926.