Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) [Paperback]

`I...realised why Churchill called it one of the "greatest books ever written in the English language" --The Week --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

'It seems to me as certain of immortality as anything written in English for half a century' John Buchan --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

This Wordsworth Edition includes an exclusive 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.

'The dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.'

Seven Pillars of Wisdom remains--like its enigmatic creator--brilliant and controversial. It describes, in the words of E. M. Forster, 'the revolt in Arabia against the Turks, as it appeared to an Englishman who took part. Round this tent-pole of a military chronicle T. E. has hung an unexampled fabric of portraits, descriptions, philosophies, emotions, adventures, dreams. He has brought to his task a fastidious scholarship, an impeccable memory, a style nicely woven of Oxfordisms and Doughty, an eye unparalleled . . . a profound distrust of himself, a still profounder faith.'

'As certain of immortality as anything written in English for half a century' --John Buchan

'It may be said of him that he suffered, in his own person, the neurotic ills of an entire generation' --Christopher Isherwood

For more titles in the Penguin Classics range, visit Amazon.co.uk's Penguin Classics Bookstore. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an unusual and rich work. It encompasses an account of the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War alongside general Middle Eastern and military history, politics, adventure and drama. It is also a memoir of the soldier known as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Lawrence is a fascinating and controversial figure and his talent as a vivid and imaginative writer shines through on every page of this, his masterpiece. Seven Pillars of Wisdom provides a unique portrait of this extraordinary man and an insight into the birth of the Arab nation --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

T.E. Lawrence was born on 16th August 1888 in Tremadog in Wales. He was one of five illegitimate children born to the Seventh Baron of Westmeath. He studied at Jesus College, Oxford where he became interested in the Middle East.He worked for British Intelligence during the First World War and fought with the Arab forces to defeat the Turks.His exploits earned him the title of 'Lawrence of Arabia' back in Britain.Her resigned in 1922 and sought anonymity in the RAF where he enlisted as John Hume Ross.He later changed his name by deed poll to T.E. Shaw. Shortly after retiring from the RAF, T.E. Lawrence died in a motorcycle accident on 19th May 1935. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.