T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 382

To James Hanley, 21.5.31. -2- your writing - and that was the priest & his church-warden fel- low over the bottle of whisky, Phil; "... sophisticated ...en his intended ... ... ...d ... crossed out) ... ...earthy and yet entirely real; really three-dimensional. I could feel all round and about the two creatures, while they talked. You can make characters come to life - still you rave to hear that I said "Dickens" as I read it, though Dickens is a man I cannot bear to read! You see, not being a conscious critic, I cannot tell you what I really thought: & felt about the book, nor can I explain what it really was that made me think & feel: but I did ... ... that your cause, and your effect, were both of them disproportionate (too trivial) for the vast tome of your treatment. A bit ditto muddle. I fancy, probably treated, for it states itself; and a small thing has to be ... ... and ... out. Your tragedy does not feel in- writable or ... : it is individual, perhaps accidental. I think what you wanted to describe was the unhealthiness of a celibate priesthood; and that the victim was introduced as ... ... of a dogma ... I feel that as an imagination the book lacks the complete appearance of life. Now I fumble; ... is astonishing, as writing: whole ... of sustained eloquence such as I've never heard from you before. What do I now do with the typescript? Yours T.E. Shaw