T. E. Lawrence Almost Overwhelmed

Book Reviews, 32:2, 1988 causes-her personal abnegation of Baruch and her commitment to a political, public cause. Harland did send me back to the novels-if only to confirm that they were not as bad as she makes them sound. I also reread The Groombridge Diary-and came across a marvellous passage where Dorothy White is discussing the peculiar nature and power of White's writing: It was the uncovering of the "commonplace" which drew me first in his books. It amazed me. ... I noticed in this chapter [V-of The Autobiography] a good illustration of his favourite sudden transition from tbe "particular" to the "general," the small to the great. These transitions produce a marked effect upon his style, which is very orderly, and yet full of strange surprises, every sort of climax, cadence, and attack. Here, sandwiched in between an apparently trivial story about Mr. and Mrs. Hexton, and an apparently bald description of Mr. Hexton's way of life, is this sentence: "I do not believe there was a single point in Mr. Hexton's character in which he touched the universal" . . . Immediately afterwards: "If he had kept bees"... I spoke of the transition from the "particular" to the "general ," the "small" to the "great." As I wrote the words "small" and "great" I wondered if they were just, in that connexion. Is the "general" truth about Mr. Hexton's character" any "greater " than the "particular" fact that on such and such a day he made his wife feel "ashamed and degraded"; and moreover, day after day, neglected to keep bees? ... I like tbe way in which the "general" touches the "particular" on either side. It is this power of holding the "general" and "particular" together in the palm of the hand and tossing them up and down like balls, which makes one think, "There is nothing in this," then "There is everything." ELT should be advertising "Wanted: Good William Hale White/ Mark Rutherford critic." I hope that he or she will be found soon-and think that whoever it is could do worse than start from Dorothy White's brilliant insights. Charles Swann __________________________________University of Keele___________________ T. E. LAWRENCE ALMOST OVERWHELMED Philip M. O'Brien. T. E. Lawrence: A Bibliography. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. $60.00 Winchester: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1988. £56.00 It is a tantalizing thought that perhaps somewhere in distant Elysium fields the enigmatic T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935), who hated 241 Book Reviews, 32:2, 1988 bibliophiles and by extension bibliographies, is chuckling to himself as he contemplates this huge volume devoted to the books and articles by and about him. But even he, who deliberately sought to confuse future literary detectives, surely must be in awe of the industry of the compiler who has assembled and attempted to bring order to the nearly 5,000 items noted in this massive work. Lawrence has been accused, with some justification, of manipulating facts to enhance his reputation, and there have been some almost vicious attempts to deglamorize him, but in spite of these attacks, positive interest continues. This is well exemplified by the centenary exhibition ("T. E. Lawrence: The Legend and the Man") mounted last year at the Bodleian Library in Oxford as a celebration of his extraordinary life and achievements. Many items from the library's impressive holdings of TEL material were on display, including books, papers, many of Augustus John's portraits from the Ashmolean Museum, and a great deal of personal memorabilia, among which were dozens of photographs of him and his companions. Coincidentally, at about the same time as the Oxford genuflection and perhaps also as another centennial tribute, T. E. Lawrence: A Bibliography by Philip O'Brien appeared. When presented with an author bibliography, a reviewer is faced with two questions. First, are the writer and his works important enough, both historically and artistically, to warrant a full-scale bibliography? Second, does the book under consideration do justice to its subject? An affirmative answer is undoubtedly required for the first question considering Lawrence's early, important contributions to archaeology and military science; his unique role in the Near East campaigns of World War I...