TE Lawrence: a merged thread

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to an article on WoTR which provided a link to this website:http://www.telstudies.org/index.shtml

It explains:

This T. E. Lawrence Studies website is edited and maintained by Jeremy Wilson. Its content draws on the research archive formed through work on Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorised Biography and the ongoing Castle Hill Press edition of T. E. Lawrence's writings. Expenses maintaining the site are funded by Castle Hill Press. The site has no connection with any other organisation.

[omarali50]

A few years ago, British Trostkyite Tariq Ali claimed that Lawrence had worked on some sort of secret mission to destabilize Afghanistan in 1927 and while in India, had married Akbar Jahan (who was later the wife of Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah). Comrade Tariq has a very fertile imagination and my rule-of-thumb is to mistrust his stories until and unless confirmed by 3 more reliable sources. So a question for Lawrence fans here, any chance any of this is true?

http://lahore.city-history.com/place...bia-in-Lahore/

(I have begun to realize that I mistrust Tariq Ali far more than most Western observers do. I think I am right, but feel free to correct me)

[davidbfpo]

A few years ago, British Trostkyite Tariq Ali claimed that Lawrence had worked on some sort of secret mission to destabilize Afghanistan in 1927 and while in India, had married Akbar Jahan (who was later the wife of Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah). Comrade Tariq has a very fertile imagination and my rule-of-thumb is to mistrust his stories until and unless confirmed by 3 more reliable sources. So a question for Lawrence fans here, any chance any of this is true?

I have just emailed Jeremy Wilson and asked that question. Hopefully he will reply!

[davidbfpo]

Via an email:

This is a myth. Sensational (and completely fictional) stories appeared in the popular Indian press during the autumn of 1928, to the effect that Lawrence was working for British Intelligence in Afghanistan. Evidently someone believed them and built a personal story around them. This isn't the only case in TEL's biography where a fictional press story generated what at first sight looks like supporting evidence. Likewise, there were countess press stories in the 1920s and 1930s about his alleged spying activities in different parts of the world. The stories even continued after he died, with foreign journalists claiming that his death had been faked.....

[omarali50]

Thanks. I was always sure Tariq Ali's theory about his role in Afghanistan was bunk simply because there is no evidence that Lawrence spoke any of the local languages (knowing Arabic would not get him far in inciting tribal revolt in Afghanistan).
And anyway the whole notion of Lawrence being some sort of "tribal revolt causing imperial specialist" who could be dropped into any part of the world at a moment's notice to start British imperialism's latest effort to stop progress in the third world is a Tariq Ali trope, so always likey to be false.

But I was more interested in the wedding story. It would be interesting to find out how that came to be? Maybe Tariq Ali really did hear that story from someone in Pakistan.
While the chances of Lawrence getting married in Lahore seem to be slim, it would have been interesting to find out how the wedding story started. Akbar Jahan was a prominent woman in later life. Who started the story about her being the ex-Mrs Lawrence?
It is likey that we will never know.

[davidbfpo]

With the publicity for one bullet The Guardian adds:

Faulkner’s Lawrence of Arabia’s War, to be published by Yale University Press later this month, aims to rewrite the history of the maverick’s legendary military campaigns, looking too at the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the role of Bedouin tribes, growing Arab nationalism and western imperial ambition.

Saunders’ book, Desert Insurgency: Archaeology, TE Lawrence and the Great Arab Revolt, to be published by Oxford University Press next year, will detail how findings from investigations at armoured car raiding camps, Ottoman army campsites, desert fortifications, and train ambush sites have helped chart the origins of modern guerrilla warfare.

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/01/bullet-corroborate-te-lawrence-of-arabia-account-arab-revolt?

[davidbfpo]

A complimentary review of Faulkner’s Lawrence of Arabia’s War (as above post) and here is one phrase:

...a rich and highly readable interdisciplinary study....

Link:http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/t...tered-veteran/