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ELT 41 : 3 1998 ates homophobic assumptions that are startling to see in any book published in the 1990s. On the whole, Edwardian Fiction is nothing less, but alas also nothing more, than a wonderful read. It is fascinating, interesting, and absorbing —but it is not reliable. I hope that the editors will issue a revised edition, because such a reference work is sorely needed, and I admire the effort and imagination and thought which went into this volume. But the fact that Edwardian fiction is usually neglected makes it all the more important to have a reference work which does it justice. This is not the one. Tal ia Schaff er San Francisco State University Essays on T. E. Lawrence J. N. Lockman. Scattered Tracks on the Lawrence Trail: Twelve Essays on T E. Lawrence. Whitmore Lake, MI: Falcon Books, 1996. xxii + 208 pp. $24.00 CONTENTIOUS as the field of T. E. Lawrence studies has long been—in fact, virtually since its inception—few Lawrence scholars have contrived to be quite so querulous and overbearing as J. N. Lockman. Having established a minor reputation as the scourge of Richard Meinertzhagen, whose fabrications of Lawrence lore in his Middle East Diary, 1917-1956 (1959) were dealt hammer blows in Lockman's previous study, Meinertzhagen's Diary Ruse: False Entries on T. E. Lawrence (1995), he now takes on all-comers, at times even himself. While he admits that these present essays are "mostly tangents, some of a fairly minor sort" (xiii), he has not allowed this recognition to breed argumentative diffidence. There are no small arms in Mr. Lockman's arsenal , only heavy artillery whose shells rain down so relentlessly as to flatten Lawrence and Lawrence scholars alike. This twelve-essay compilation—plus an appendix describing the author's motor-cycle ride along the route of the old Hejaz Railway—comprises a rag-bag of disparate materials. The opening piece, with its attempt to establish the identity of a wrecked train on the Hejaz Railway, shares a tone of assertive inconclusiveness with many of the other essays , such as the second, which attempts to refute Charles Blackmore's scepticism about Lawrence's 1917 camel ride from Bair to Jefr. The next moves backwards to Lawrence's youth in an attempt to clarify his possible ownership of a special Morris racing bicycle. This cycle figures also in the fourth essay, an attack on Fred Crawford for a supposed campaign 356 BOOK REVIEWS against Liddell Hart and in defence of Richard Aldington. Essay five focuses on Lawrence's reconnaissance ride in 1917 through Syria, "conclusively proving" (43) its actual occurrence. Three essays on the infamous Deraa incident, directed towards vindicating Lawrence's account, are followed—with no obvious logic at all—by discussion of some German wartime reports on Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. This in turn is followed by a not very convincing attempt to argue that Lawrence's supposed rescue of Gasim from death under a blazing desert sun ended not in the success recorded in Seven Pillars of Wisdom (and, of course, the David Lean film Lawrence of Arabia) but in failure. Then it is back to Deraa for the counter-argument against the incident having occurred at all, which leads to the last essay on "Lawrence's Scars," their quantity, nature, and provenance. For all the combative and self-righteous proclamations advanced throughout the collection, this last essay makes in its concluding sentence an admission that might stand as fitting summation of the whole ill-assorted bunch: "With great regret at having not been able to settle this matter, but with my leads, resources, and patience exhausted, I must now let it rest, no longer in total obscurity, yet still in deep twilight" (179). While the Deraa incident gets more attention here than any other aspect of Lawrence's life, the only real theme drawing these twelve essays together is authorial indignation at the irresponsibility of coLawrencians . The luckless Lawrence James, author of The Golden Warrior : The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia ( 1990), can conveniently serve as exemplar for the numerous fellow targets of Lockman's scorn: "A compendium of all James' faults would be...

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