The Medievalism of Lawrence of Arabia

The Medievalism of Lawrence of Arabia PDF Author: Malcolm D. Allen
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271073284
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
M. D. Allen's study deals with T. E. Lawrence's lifelong interest in the medieval world, especially medieval literature, and its considerable influence on his view of himself and of the Arabs with whom he fought in an archaic theater of war, and hence his own literary production. The Medievalism of Lawrence of Arabia investigates the influence Lawrence's interest in medieval life and literature had on his attitudes toward life in general and—in content, theme, and diction—on his masterpiece, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, in particular. Allen begins with a brief biography of Lawrence—his early interest in things medieval and his somewhat controversial BA thesis on crusader castles. Allen then reveals the extent to which Lawrence's ideas about honor, warfare, and chivalry in the Arab war against the Turks were shaped by his reading in medieval writings such as Malory's Morte d'Arthur. (Both, as he makes clear, were warrior societies dominated by horses.) Lawrence's reading in the nineteenth-century medievalism is also explored, as in Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Ruskin's writing on art, where the parallel between Ruskin's ideas on ornament and Lawrence's ideas about the dignity of war is demonstrated. Allen then identifies the medieval and neomedieval texts of Seven Pillars of Wisdom and shows why and to what effect Lawrence borrowed from chivalric, neochivalric, and pseudochivalric works, and sometimes transmogrified them, revealing Lawrence's greatest inspiration to be an English translation of the Moallakat (which is, so to speak, the Arabic Beowulf). Allen sheds new light on many aspects of the influence of medievalism on Lawrence's thought and writing.

Lawrence in Arabia

Lawrence in Arabia PDF Author: Scott Anderson
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385532938
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 844

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the Best Books of the Year: The Christian Science Monitor NPR The Seattle Times St. Louis Post-Dispatch Chicago Tribune A New York Times Notable Book Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War I was, in the words of T. E. Lawrence, “a sideshow of a sideshow.” As a result, the conflict was shaped to a remarkable degree by a small handful of adventurers and low-level officers far removed from the corridors of power. At the center of it all was Lawrence himself. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist excavating ruins in Syria; by 1917 he was riding into legend at the head of an Arab army as he fought a rearguard action against his own government and its imperial ambitions. Based on four years of intensive primary document research, Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed.

With Lawrence in Arabia

With Lawrence in Arabia PDF Author: Lowell Thomas
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book Here

Book Description
"With Lawrence in Arabia" by Lowell Thomas is a fast-paced and fascinating book that is equal parts fact and fiction. Thomas had experience in the army and traveled to far-off places, thus he garnered more than enough experience to be able to write a compelling adventure story for people to love.

Hero

Hero PDF Author: Michael Korda
Publisher: Aurum
ISBN: 1845138376
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 784

Get Book Here

Book Description
Michael Korda’s Hero is an epic biography of the mysterious,Englishman whose daring exploits made him an object of intense fascination, known the world over as ‘Lawrence of Arabia. An Oxford Scholar and archaeologist, T.E. Lawrence was sent to Cairo as an intelligence officer in 1916 and vanished into the desert in 1917. He united and led the Arab tribes to defeat the Turks and eventually capture Damascus, an adventure he recorded in the classic Seven Pillars of Wisdom. A born leader, utterly fearless and seemingly impervious to pain and danger, he remained modest, and retiring. Farsighted diplomat, brilliant military strategist, the first media celebrity, and acclaimed writer, Lawrence was a visionary whose achievements transcended his time: had his vision for the modern Middle East been carried through, the hatred and bloodshed that have since plagued the region might have prevented. The democratic reforms he would have implemented as British High Commissioner of Egypt, are those the Egyptians are now demanding, 91 years later. Ultimately, as this magisterial work demonstrates, Lawrence remains the paradigm of the hero in modern times.

Crusader Castles

Crusader Castles PDF Author: Thomas E. Lawrence
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 55

Get Book Here

Book Description


A Prince of Our Disorder

A Prince of Our Disorder PDF Author: John E. Mack
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674704947
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 628

Get Book Here

Book Description
First published in 1976, John Mack's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography humanely and objectively explores the relationship between T.E. Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions. Extensive research provides the basis for Mack's sensitive investigation of the psychological dimensions of Lawrence's personality and with the history, sociology, and politics of his time. 27 photos.

The Golden Warrior

The Golden Warrior PDF Author: Lawrence James
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 1602393540
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 561

Get Book Here

Book Description
During the 1920s--in the aftermath of the Arab revolt against Britain--T. E. Lawrence gained global attention, both for his involvement in the Middle Eastern anti-imperialist movement, and for his vivid and sensational writings about his experiences. Following World War I, his appointment as an advisor to Winston Churchill--nearly simultaneous with the release of an American documentary about the revolt--further charged the T. E. Lawrence mania. Despite the emergence of a whole new set of problems in the Middle East, and fueled by the classic status of the epic movie Lawrence of Arabia, the T. E. Lawrence mystique continues to fascinate. Controversial and provocative, this revised and updated edition of Lawrence James's acclaimed biography penetrates and overturns the mythology that surrounds T. E. Lawrence. With access to previously unavailable documents, James traces the sometimes spurious Lawrence legend back to its truthful roots, peeling back the layers of Lawrence's calculated public persona to reveal the gifted, tortured man behind the shimmering myth. Yet James remains dispassionate and generous in spirit throughout. The Golden Warrior presents readers with a fascinating study of one of the twentieth century's most remarkable figures.

Guerrilla Leader

Guerrilla Leader PDF Author: James Joseph Schneider
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0553807641
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Get Book Here

Book Description
Schneider offers a startling reexamination of this leader's critical role in shaping the modern Middle East. The answers have profound implications for modern times, as a new generation of revolutionaries pulls pages from Lawrence's playbook of irregular warfare.

Hero

Hero PDF Author: Michael Korda
Publisher: Aurum Press
ISBN: 9781845137717
Category : Soldiers
Languages : en
Pages : 762

Get Book Here

Book Description
Michael Korda's Hero is an epic biography of the mysterious,Englishman whose daring exploits made him an object of intense fascination, known the world over as 'Lawrence of Arabia. An Oxford Scholar and archaeologist, T.E. Lawrence was sent to Cairo as an intelligence officer in 1916 and vanished into the desert in 1917. He united and led the Arab tribes to defeat the Turks and eventually capture Damascus, an adventure he recorded in the classic Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Florence of Arabia

Florence of Arabia PDF Author: Christopher Buckley
Publisher: Corsair
ISBN: 1780336799
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Get Book Here

Book Description
The bestselling author who made mincemeat of political correctness in Thank You for Smoking, conspiracy theories in Little Green Men, and Presidential indiscretions No Way to Treat a First Lady now takes on the hottest topic in the entire world-Arab-American relations-in a blistering comic novel sure to offend the few it doesn't delight. Appalled by the punishment of her rebellious friend Nazrah, youngest and most petulant wife of Prince Bawad of Wasabia, Florence Farfarletti decides to draw a line in the sand. As Deputy to the deputy assistant secretary for Near East Affairs, Florence invents a far-reaching, wide-ranging plan for female emancipation in that part of the world. The U.S. government, of course, tells her to forget it. Publicly, that is. Privately, she's enlisted in a top-secret mission to impose equal rights for the sexes on the small emirate of Matar (pronounced "Mutter"), the "Switzerland of the Persian Gulf." Her crack team: a CIA killer, a snappy PR man, and a brilliant but frustrated gay bureaucrat. Her weapon: TV shows. The lineup on TV Matar includes A Thousand and One Mornings, a daytime talk show that features self-defense tips to be used against boyfriends during Ramadan; an addictive soap opera featuring strangely familiar members of the Matar royal family; and a sitcom about an inept but ruthless squad of religious police, pitched as "Friends from Hell." The result: the first deadly car bombs in the country since 1936, a fatwa against the station's entire staff, a struggle for control of the kingdom, and, of course, interference from the French. And that's only the beginning. A merciless dismantling of both American ineptitude and Arabic intolerance, Florence of Arabia is Christopher Buckley's funniest and most serious novel yet, a biting satire of how U.S. good intentions can cause the Shiite to hit the fan.