T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 626

Po E.M. Inces, Cambridge My ..."s (It is deleted) opinion 330171 .CB Shew not 108 R.A.F. cadet college Cranwell Lincs. 14.3.23 Of course it has to be answered; but not easily. I told E.M.F. a week before that your opinion of my book would be important, since you were the best critic just now writing. Then your "Authors" came, & confirmed what, after all, was a lucky judgement, since I don't often see the weekly papers. I meant to write to you about your book, comparing your promising plantation of ... trees with my ... national-rep of second-hand materials... and the next step is your finding my thing good! It puzzles me, and shakes my conviction that it is rotten: of course I'll come back to my own position, afterwards, when the shock of your judgement has died past. Surely you can see that the effective scenes in the book are made effective by walking "Cricket" I always had the ambition to write something good, & when the Revolt gave me a subject I tried to make up for what I felt - a lack of instinct, by taking innumerable pains: by studying how other people got their effects, & using their experience. So I built an enormous mass of second-hand ..."ts into my skeleton ... and completely hid the skeleton under them. At least I think I spoiled it, though I notice you detect a certain unity, where S.S. found a lack of his "architectonics". It sounds very conceited, that I should go on believing the book rotten, when you have written in the contrary sense. S.S. also called it epical (though an epic hasn't yet been built on the ...ngs, as aside from the ... of men)! and I've lived down his praise. So there isn't much hope for your downing me. Yet I admit it is a proof. All the harder because I was sure that your classical spirit would condemn me outright. It is also awfully good of ... to have written at such length. Other people have identified me with the Arab ...som of body and soul: It isn't, I think, really my position, & I've put in a new preface in the new edition, trying to make it clear. However that is at the printers, just now. You shall have the extract later. "Expurging syllables" Why, I've cut out 50,000 words for this new edition, which is to be the complete edition. The text you have seen is to be destroyed, when the new one is ready. Don't go & tell me, when the new one rolls up, that I've gone & spoilt it.