Research & Discussion
General biography
Rejected legend
Youth 1888-1914
War service 1914-1918
Diplomacy 1918-1922
Service years 1922-1935
Lawrence's personality
Writings and criticism
Lawrence and book production
Film, TV, radio
Book reviews
Bibliography & Collecting
Obituaries
Discussion list
Lawrence of Arabia or Smith in the Desert?
David Lean's film viewed as history
A review discussion by Jeremy Wilson
Welcome to an on-going project. Before the pages of detailed comment are posted here, they are discussed on the T.E.Lawrence Studies List, and that is a slow process. So it may be many months before the detailed notes reach the closing scene. Meanwhile, an overview is available:
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Overview
In March 2006 I presented a shortened version of this discussion at the Imperial War Museum in London. You can read this online here. While it contains less detailed comment than the pages below, it covers the entire film. |
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Introduction |
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| Page 1 | The Oxford Workshop - some useful reading - personal background |
| Page 2 | A note about copyright - The question - Private agendas |
| Page 3 | The disclaimer - major characters who were real people - major fictional characters |
| Page 4 | Dramatic themes, interpretation, and other historical problems |
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Scene-by-scene comments |
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| Page 5 | Title sequence - the accident - memorial - on the steps of St. Paul's |
| Page 6 | Military Intelligence Office, Cairo - Lawrence passes through the Officers' Mess - General Murray, Dryden and Lawrence - Dryden and Lawrence |
| Page 7 | Lawrence's ride inland from Rabegh to Feisal's camp in Wadi Safra |
| Page 8 | Lawrence, Brighton and Feisal in Feisal's camp |
| Page 9 | The expedition to Akaba crosses the desert |
| More to follow.... | |
Chronology
T.E. Lawrence 1888-1935
1888 16 August: born at Tremadoc, Wales
1896-1907: City of Oxford High School for Boys
1907-9: Jesus College, Oxford, B.A., 1st Class Hons, 1909
1910-14: Magdalen College, Oxford (Senior Demy), while working at the British Museum's excavations at Carchemish
1915-16: Military Intelligence Dept, Cairo
1916-18: Liaison Officer with the Arab Revolt
1919: Attended the Paris Peace Conference
1919-22: wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1921-2: Adviser on Arab Affairs to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office
1922 August: Enlisted in the Ranks of the RAF
1923 January: discharged from the RAF
1923 March: enlisted in the Tank Corps
1923: translated a French novel, The Forest Giant
1924-6: prepared the subscribers' abridgement of Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1927-8: stationed at Karachi, then Miranshah
1927 March: Revolt in the Desert, an abridgement of Seven Pillars, published
1928: completed The Mint, began translating Homer's Odyssey
1929-33: stationed at Plymouth
1931: started working on RAF boats
1932: his translation of the Odyssey published
1933-5: attached to MAEE, Felixstowe
1935 February: retired from the RAF
1935 19 May: died from injuries received in a motor-cycle crash on 13 May
1935 21 May: buried at Moreton, Dorset