May. 26th, 2009 [I sometimes abuse ampersands]

A very long-winded post on my obsession with the T.E.Lawrence fandom. I've said it all on my Russian diary before, but felt the need to infest this journal with lawrencitis too.

A short list of very important life lessons this fandom teaches you:
1. Ravenclaws can be heroes too (c)
2. Those who think that Don Quixote was the last European knight are ~~losers~~ thoroughly misinformed.
3. Lawrence was the moving force behind all important events of the first 3d/half (depending on which conspirological theory you prefer :) ) of the XX century. If he was not the moving force behind some event, chances are it was not that important :)
4. TEL is more alive than Elvis.
5. Memorizing the Oxford English Dictionary is exciting!

Biographical notes: the basics can be found on wikipedia; my favourite biography of Lawrence is his autobiographical letter to Robert Graves, which contains a funny account of his adolescence, gorgeous passages like I could write for hours on the lustfulness of moving swiftly, and a slightly more mythologized version of the events described on wikipedia.

On the Seven Pillars of Wisdom & Lawrence of Arabia: the fact that Seven Pillars of Wisdom is so often misrepresented as non-fiction irks me to no end. For me, it's, first & foremost, a modernist novel, what with the narrator using quasi-ethnographical essays on semitic mythotology & theology to legitimise his actions, and insisting on styling himself after olden-days knights & prophets, and stubbornly reading Malory before crucial battles. He's successful because he strives to become those heroes; he fails because he's not them. He's not even the tribal chiefs, 'old as Malory', and while he makes fun of their long-winded tales of battles & the most mundane events, he does it with certain awe.
The movie, meanwhile, is more of a romantic text: the hero breaks the traditions (see the complete lack of mentions of pre-Lawrence Arab revolts against the Ottoman Empire) instead of relying on them; also, like all romantic heroes, he has a fatal flaw which will be the end of him (see the theme of Lawrence's sadism that was introduced in the movie & goes contrary to all other parts of the canon).
The movie is a complete eye-candy, but the racial politics are waay skankier than in the book (go figure); also, the book is way more ironic.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom online
Lawrence of Arabia on imdb

On Mint: if Seven Pillars of Wisdom is, basically, the XX century Odyssey (or Ilyad? not sure on that point), the Mint is TEL's remake of Dante. In describing his enlistment in RAF, TEL follows the same basic structure through the three parts of the story (the hell of training, boiling decaying cow carcasses, the brutality & phisicality of his fellow recruits, through purgatory, on to the paradise of light-filled hangars & worship for god-like aviators, worship of humanity & humankind). It's a funny read - it's better structured than the sprawling SPoW, even though I personally like the plot of SPoW better.
Text online

On letters: I'm used to a more utilitarian approach to letters, so TEL's letters, which are a thing of beauty in & of themselves, caught me off-guard. Also, he kept corresponding with a lot of people I've been fannish about! *envious*

( A LOT of quotes from TEL's letters )
Texts online, in chronological order

On slashy goodness: I ship TEL/Richard Meinertzhagen like whoa. In fact, it's the only pairing I've ever been extremely tin-hattish about, and by "extremely tin-hattish" I mean just that - "OMG, they are so doing it, and if they are not, it's only because of the dire circumstances". Bear with me.
They were both scholars who happened to be born in the wrong time; neither of them let that pesky factual accuracy get in the way of a good story (my fave Meinertzhagen anecdote is on how he answered "Heil Hitler" with a kindly "Heil Meinertzhagen" *in Hitler's presence* - need I say that it was never proven if they've ever met?); despite their conflicting political beliefs (Lawrence was a pan-arabist, Meinertzhagen was a zionist) they were great friends, blowing up toy trains & discussing bird voices.
( this is what TEL wrote on RM in SPoW )

RM, meanwhile, wrote something that can only be called RPS, what with Lawrence taking bath in his room & undressing right in front of him, admitting to being raped, and RM tucking him in & spanking him at one point. In my fandom, h/c is CANON, guys! :)
( relevant quotes from RM's Middle East Diary )

To top the adorableness off, here is RM's nightly prayer: "Thou seest, dear Heavenly Father, the sad plight of Thy Servant Dick; grant him soon a nice little war, that he may better his condition, and continue to praise Thy Name".

One extra reason to love the TEL fandom: it has academic wankery! With (otherwise respectable) historians resorting to mud fights when discussing the sexuality of the object of their academic studies! XD

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I sometimes abuse ampersands

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