Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Classics of World Literature)

Lawrence, T.E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853264695 ISBN 13: 9781853264696

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 1997

With an Introduction by Angus Calder.

As Angus Calder states in his introduction to this edition, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom is one of the major statements about the fighting experience of the First World War'. Lawrence's younger brothers, Frank and Will, had been killed on the Western Front in 1915. Seven Pillars of Wisdom, written between 1919 and 1926, tells of the vastly different campaign against the Turks in the Middle East - one which encompasses gross acts of cruelty and revenge and ends in a welter of stink and corpses in the disgusting 'hospital' in Damascus.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is no Boys Own Paper tale of Imperial triumph, but a complex work of high literary aspiration which stands in the tradition of Melville and Dostoevsky, and alongside the writings of Yeats, Eliot and Joyce.

Review:

"...skilfully narrated by British actor James Wilby...Strongly recommended for listeners of military history, autobiography, travel narrative, or Arab history." (Library Journal Review)

From the Publisher:

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, The Complete 1922 Text
This is the first publication of Lawrence's earlier and fuller version of Seven Pillars, one third longer than the revised abridgement that he issued to subscribers in 1926, which is the text published for general circulation after his death. In addition to the two volumes of text there is a companion book of illustrations,152 pages, which includes the original colour portraits commissioned by Lawrence for the book, and a selection of his war photographs.

This first edition is limited to 752 sets. 80 sets have been bound in full goatskin, and are accompanied by a proof set of the Seven Pillars portraits, and a parallel-text showing intermediate and final texts of the Introduction.

A trade edition of the text is expected in 1999 or 2000.