T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Chris Joyce (University of Cambridge)
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“By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars.” (

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

, ch. i)

As a literary figure, T. E. Lawrence is known principally as the author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom: a triumph (subscribers' edition, 1926; general edition, 1935), the epic account of his part in the Arabian campaign of the First World War. He had, however, harboured literary ambitions well before its production was thought of, and those ambitions were far from exhausted in the writing of it. In addition to an abridged edition for general sale, Revolt in the Desert(1927), Lawrence wrote extended notes of his time as an aircraftman: The Mint: A day book of the R.A.F. Depot (1955)

3923 words

Citation: Joyce, Chris. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15917, accessed 28 March 2024.]

15917 Seven Pillars of Wisdom 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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