"Seven Pillars of Wisdom" - Classic or Codswallop?

In Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926), T E Lawrence wrote of the Arab revolt against Turkish rule in 1917-18, and his role in galvanizing and guiding it. The work has long been regarded as a classic. But is it actually codswallop?

Fabius argues that "some may consider this almost sacrilege but I never liked T E Lawrence. I have read most of Seven Pillars and still have it somewhere among my books but somehow I was very disappointed by it. Maybe I've read too many eulogistic reviews before reading the book itself".

I can understand where Fabius is coming from. The writing in Seven Pillars of Wisdom can be flowery and long-winded. In places, it verges on incomprehensible. But I regard it as a classic war memoir, adventure story, and strategic treatise. Here's three reasons why:

• The conveying of sense of place. The descriptions of Wadi Rumm and the ancient Roman outpost of Azrak, where Lawrence based his operations, are especially haunting: "whereas Rumm was vast and echoing and God-like, Azrak's unfathomable silence was steeped in knowledge of wandering poets, champions, lost kingdoms..."

• The penetrating character sketches. Of Clayton, the British intelligence chief in Cairo, Lawrence wrote: "It was not easy to descry his influence. He was like water, or permeating oil, creeping silently and insistently through everything. It was not possible to say where Clayton was and was not, and how much really belonged to him."

• The brilliant exposition of guerrilla warfare. Chapter 33 is particularly instructive - "Armies were like plants, immobile, firm-rooted, nourished through long stems to the head. We might be a vapour, blowing where we listed. Our kingdoms lay in each man's mind; and as we wanted nothing material to live on, so we might offer nothing material to the killing."

That's my view. What do you think - classic or codswallop?

Comments

[Adrian]

It was a pain to read, but I do think it was worth it. This is what I got out of it:

That 6 or 7 page section somewhere in the middle where he lays out his theory of guerrilla warfare;

The realization that most of the war wasn't fighting, but was political wrangling trying to hold together a coalition;

The degree to which British conceptions of the Arab 'race' (and of their own Britishness) impacted the prosecution of the war and TE Lawrence's telling of it;

How many things can go wrong even in the most well-planned operation (the guys supposed to man the machine gun that just ran away).

Doubtless other stuff that I forget. I'm glad I read it.

[Kotare]

Thanks Adrian. I also valued the counter-intuitive thinking that characterized Lawrence's strategy and the Arab operations.

At the same time one has to be aware that Lawrence significantly exaggerated the role of the Arab guerrillas in bringing about the defeat of the Turks, while significantly downplaying the role of Allenby's British, New Zealand and Australian forces, who fought through Sinai, Palestine and Syria, and were primarily responsible for the Ottoman defeat.

[fabius.maximus.cunctator]

Kotare,

1st of all I am really flattered to have given you the idea for a post.

2nd, well, difficult to explain, so may I use a metaphor to explain my impression ? For Xmas Mrs. fabius gave me a bottle of 15 yr Dun Beaghan / Caol Illa Single Malt, complete with cask number and all. Very good stuff, but ... from the age, the maker, the shop I know she got it from etc. I d have expected something more just some little thing which wasn`t there.

Somehow TE Lawrence is in that category for me. I am not knowledgeable enough about Allenby´s achievements to make a judgement but you are probaby quite right about the facts, too.

[Alan]

I'm with Fabius on this. I thought that lawrence was a terrible bore. "Revolt in the Desert" is better because it's shorter. I struggled through half of "Seven Pillars", then put it away...I think my wife must have sent it to a gala sale.

[John]

I love this:

"They taught me that no man could be their leader except he ate the ranks' food, wore their clothes, lived level with them, and yet appeared better in himself."

[Kotare]

Great thought, John. Reminds me of Tiberius's approach to command, as a general.