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A Prince of Our Disorder (0)
ElSato
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 52 W: 1 N: 13]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-n-s.gif) (77) | Shutter2Think's "More Than Words" challenge made things difficult for me because I have so MANY favourite books. I read a lot of fiction, from high-brow to trashy, from classic realism to science fiction, as well as a high volume of non-fiction science and the occasional biography (not to mention keeping up with celebrity gossip through magazines).
In the end I settled on a set of books rather than a single one, although they can easily be viewed as each being part of one larger book: the many-sided, ever-expanding biography of T.E. Lawrence, known in Hollywood (and before that in the press) as Lawrence of Arabia.
I think the movie is brilliant, but like many biopics it conceals and distorts more than it reveals. He's an endlessly compelling personality: fragile and powerful at the same time; deeply thoughtful, yet given to action as much as reflection; an officer who faithfully served the demands of the British state and then refused her highest honors; a brilliant writer who put years of effort into his works and then derided his own talents; he was immensely famous, having courted public attention and contributed to his own myth, but then, upon reaching the height of his greatest fame, he just as deliberately concealed himself under an assumed name in the rank and file of the British military.
From the time of his death in 1935 until at least as recently as the mid-eighties at least one new biography had been published regarding Lawrence each year (with a one- or two-year hiatus during WWII, due largely to paper shortages). The Workshop contains a photo of my own small but growing Lawrence library. For anyone wanting to know more about him there is a good web page here.
The photo shows me with two of the more important books about Lawrence. The big red one is "Lawrence of Arabia" by Jeremy Wilson. The small black one is "A Prince of Our Discontent," by John Mack, which won the Pulitzer Prize and which gave its title to this photograph. The first, as Lawrence's authorized biography, is the most official version of his personal history, the second is probably the best.
Tech: nothing but cropping. I liked the motion blur and just left everything as it was. |
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