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T.E. Lawrence, James Wilby

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Audio CD, Published in Feb 2009 by CSA Word

ISBN10: 193499720X | ISBN13: 9781934997208

Page count: 1

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British soldier Thomas Edward Lawrence, while serving as liaison officer with rebels during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks of 1916-18. The title comes from Proverbs 9:1: "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" (KJV). Lawrence kept extensive notes throughout his involvement in the Revolt. He began work on a clean narrative in the 1st half of '19 while in Paris for the Peace Conference &, later that summer, while back in Egypt. By 12/19 he had a fair draft of most of the 10 books that make up the Seven Pillars but lost it except for the introduction & last two books. In early '20, he started rewriting what he could remember. He was able to complete Text II, 400,000 words, in 3 months. He described it as "hopelessly bad" in literary terms, but historically "substantially complete & accurate". With II before him, he began a polished Text III, in London, Jeddah & Amman during '21. Upon completion of its 335,000 words in 2/22, he burned II. He then had 8 copies typeset & printed on the Oxford Times press. This private edition became known as the "1922 Edition" or "Oxford Text". This unabridged text wasn't made public until its UK copyright expired in '97.
By mid-'22, the psychological aftereffects of war were taking a toll, as were his exhaustion from literary endeavors of the past 3 years, his disillusionment with the settlement given to his Arab comrades & the burdens of being perceived a nat'l hero. He reenlisted under assumed names (the Air Force, then the Tank Corps), in an attempt to "lie fallow" & develop a new identity. Concerned over his state & eager for his story to be read by a wider public, friends persuaded him to produce an abridged version of Seven Pillars, to serve as both intellectual stimulation & a source of income. In off-duty evenings, "Aircraftman Ross"–-later, "Private Shaw"–-set to trimming the '22 text down to 250,000 words for what would be a limited, lavish subscribers' edition ('26). The Subscribers' Edition was 25% shorter than the Oxford Text, but wasn't abridged uniformly. Deletions from the early books are much less drastic than those of later ones. Literary merits aside, producing the Subscribers' Edition had left him facing bankruptcy. He was forced to undertake an even more stringent pruning to produce a version for sale to the public: this was the '27 Revolt in the Desert, 130,000 words: "an abridgement of an abridgement," remarked G. Bernard Shaw, not without disdain.