T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 605

15. IX. 27 Dear K., Don't talk about "owing letters". I hate the beastly things. They are so inadequate, especially after you have posted them. (the "you" there means "I" or is it "me"?) Let's begin again. That sentence cannot go on. Graves is, I hope, nearly delivered by now. It will be a great relief to me when the book is out and over. It is a pot-boiler, and has no independent life of its own, apart from Graves and myself: no intrinsic merit, I mean. Probably the public will feel that it has had too much of me, and snew me out of its memory for ever after a while heresy about 20 years. Let's hope so. B.B. has been very decent about consulting me: and I gave him a lot of trouble, if he followed much of what I ventured to suggest. It would mean re-writing great chunks of his stuff. Of cours'r-ritiers are far behind us both. And you couldn't do more pictures, any more than I could consider again the inwardness of the Arab Revolt. If you see Graves again, do urge on him, as an independent authority, the undesirability of anyone's championing me or my doings in the Press. As if it mattered a damn what sort of a creature I was or what I did do or didn't do. It is history now, and the judgement is out of the hand of A.J.'ll and myself. I suppose you know the friction at Cairo was because he had just got the sack from the political service. This was inevitable, when my policy conquered. I was sorry for him, or would have been, had he taken it better. I am glad the new war memorial is going forward. The sculptor will be unpopular with the committee, for the vexatious delays in his memorial. Probably they have invited General Boh-snob to unveil it on June 23 (the anniversary of the day on which he lost his whole division in a dud attack: and Bob-a-nob, even in retirement, is greater than a live sculptor and a memorial. Damn him, then and the silly human scale of values.