Another book
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Is there no end to the Lawrencian smogasbord? If these things are ended by one final full-stop of a book, it might be this one - part hagiography, part chronicle of the lonely years, and part debunker of conspiracy - broad, idiosyncratic, sympathetic, detailed, often quite technical, sometimes quite poetic, occasionally confusing (to a fule like me) which seeks on the whole to preserve & enhance the collective parts of the iconography. You feel that Mr S himself has no time for conspiracies, really, but doth he protest a fraction too much in his incredibly forensic dismantling of them? It's part of the fun though, for who wants loftily to brush aside conspiracies when you can crush them into the ground with your cubans. Oddly, for someone who has no truck with wild-eyed theorizing he finshes with a little speculation in the "what if T.E.L had lived?" vein, and then leaves you peering cautiously under the bed with one final Lawrence-relasted ghostie story. To the Q "do you need to know this much about the rather bleak post arabia stuff" I would never knowingly have answered YES but in the event I didn't want to finish the book & nor by the looks of it did Mr S because there are 8 appendices some technical, some bizarre. It's quite a piece of work ! Mr Simpson says he's been living in Dorset for the last 35 years - probably writing this book for most of it. Eccellento !
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another life lawrence after arabia
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my collection of books by & about t.e.lawrence now numbers over one hundred not to mention numerous magazine articles,newspaper clippings,booklets & t.e.society journals & newsletters.so when a new publication appears my first thought is what more could possibly be added to the wealth of information already on this subject.mr.Simpsons new book has quite frankly pleasantly surprised me.I have found a lot of new material,fresh opinions & carefully constructed arguments contesting previously held views.All in all a well balanced highly readable book with a lot of photographs which I have not seen in any other previous publication.The appendices were particulary interesting especially no.3 concerning E.Spurrs design for a prototype hovercraft,an episode often overlooked by other biographers.The lengthy errata sheet(40 corrections) still missed a couple of errors,page 253 lists Thomas Hardy as one of the mourners at the funeral,this is not possible as he died seven years earlier,I am sure Mr Simson meant his widow Florence who certainly did attend.Also,the Bridlington memorial is described as a bird bath where I have always believed it to be a sundial with the gnomon long gone.However without wishing to appear pedantic this is an excellent book any Lawrence enthusiast would want to add to thier library
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Lawrence a busy life well lived.
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A confession: I read every book I find regarding the enigma who was T.E. Lawrence. This is probably the reason why most leave me feeling at best a little ripped off. How many times can the same story be rewritten? Always it's either the rehashed Arab revolt, his literary exploits or the he was a strange reclusive sexual deviant angle.
However due to the 'After Arabia' content I was looking forward to the release of this book, and devoured it's pages with more gusto than I had mustered for the latest crop of Lawrence books. I'm glad I did, I wasn't left disappointed. A well written 'big' book full of fact's that will bring new information to most readers tables. Lawrence was a busy man with a hectic life, so there's a plethora of little known or touched on aspects to his post Arabia life to cover. The author certainly does cover most of it.
Worthy of it's place in your Lawrence library, especially if your new to the post Arabia subject matter.
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