The Real T E Lawrence: His Life and Legacy

Explores the enduring mysteries of Lawrence’s postwar obscurity and complex sexuality.

T. E. Lawrence, soldier and writer, the co-leader with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia of the Arab Campaign during the First World War, became a legend in his own lifetime. And yet to this day there is much about him which remains a mystery: two aspects of his character being of particular interest.

This first is why, having become a famous figure with the world at his feet, did he choose, subsequently, to live a life of obscurity in the lower ranks of the armed services?

The second concerns Lawrence’s sexuality. Some of his biographers have been accused of bringing ’sex’ into their volumes, for reasons of sensationalism and publicity. To be fair, however, it was Lawrence himself who first raised the subject, by including in his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom (an account of the Desert Campaign), details of how he was captured and raped by the Turks. Lawrence, who never married, is known to have engaged in masochistic rituals. So, what was the true nature of, and explanation for his sexuality?

This is the challenge of The Real T. E. Lawrence.