Fiction and Reality

The Arabian ''Other'' in T. E. Lawrence''s (1888-1935)
SPW(1935) is practically not Arabian; not even
strikes one as Eastern except at few occasions.
Lawrence''s travel account is full of falsifications
and fictions that contribute to destroying the
Arabian image. SPW presents its main hero under the
dual influence of war and cultural alienation, hence
it is more of one man s life than a historical
account of the Arabian revolution. Consequently,
terms like "ambiguous", "inconsistent"
and "contestable" best describe Lawrence''s Arabian
image. His reconstructed reality is never at any
one time immune against falling apart as the author
introduces or destroys patterns with which he
charters the foreign world. These patterns, in
fact, never succeed in retaining the spirit of the
world inspected. Instead, they emphasize the
traveler''s reflective and critical appreciation of
his ''Self'' drawing mystifyingly on the Other''s
mythical or stereotypical status.

Autorentext
Norah AL Malki M.A. in Comparative literature from the
Women''s College of Education, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a
lecturer in the Department of English at King AbdulAziz
University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Klappentext
The Arabian 'Other' in T. E. Lawrence's (1888-1935) SPW(1935) is practically not Arabian; not even strikes one as Eastern except at few occasions. Lawrence's travel account is full of falsifications and fictions that contribute to destroying the Arabian image. SPW presents its main hero under the dual influence of war and cultural alienation, hence it is more of one man's life than a historical account of the Arabian revolution. Consequently, terms like "ambiguous", "inconsistent" and "contestable" best describe Lawrence's Arabian image. His reconstructed reality is never at any one time immune against falling apart as the author introduces or destroys patterns with which he charters the foreign world. These patterns, in fact, never succeed in retaining the spirit of the world inspected. Instead, they emphasize the traveler's reflective and critical appreciation of his 'Self' drawing mystifyingly on the Other's mythical or stereotypical status.