Les sept piliers de la sagesse: Le récit autobiographique des aventures de Lawrence d'Arabie

Par T.E. Lawrence

RÉSUMÉ :
"Les sept piliers de la sagesse" est un récit autobiographique captivant de T.E. Lawrence, connu sous le nom de Lawrence d'Arabie. L'ouvrage relate ses expériences pendant la révolte arabe contre l'Empire ottoman durant la Première Guerre mondiale. Lawrence, en tant qu'officier de liaison britannique, joue un rôle essentiel dans la coordination des efforts arabes pour déstabiliser les forces ottomanes. Le texte, riche en détails et en réflexions personnelles, offre une perspective unique sur les complexités politiques et culturelles de la région. Lawrence décrit avec précision les paysages arides du désert, les batailles stratégiques et les interactions intenses avec les chefs arabes comme le prince Fayçal. Le livre explore également les dilemmes moraux et éthiques auxquels Lawrence est confronté, tiraillé entre ses devoirs envers l'Empire britannique et ses sympathies croissantes pour la cause arabe. "Les sept piliers de la sagesse" n'est pas seulement un récit de guerre, mais aussi une méditation sur la loyauté, l'identité et le pouvoir. À travers une prose poétique et introspective, Lawrence plonge le lecteur dans une époque charnière de l'histoire du Moyen-Orient, tout en révélant ses propres vulnérabilités et convictions. Cette oeuvre est un témoignage intemporel de la complexité des relations humaines en temps de conflit, et une exploration profonde de l'esprit humain face à l'adversité.

L'AUTEUR :
Thomas Edward Lawrence, plus connu sous le nom de T.E. Lawrence, est né le 16 août 1888 au Pays de Galles. Il est surtout célèbre pour son rôle durant la révolte arabe de 1916-1918, où il a servi comme officier de liaison britannique. Lawrence a étudié l'archéologie à l'Université d'Oxford, ce qui l'a conduit à voyager au Moyen-Orient avant la Première Guerre mondiale. Ces expériences ont enrichi sa compréhension des cultures arabes, une connaissance qui s'est avérée cruciale pendant le conflit. Après la guerre, Lawrence a contribué à la conférence de paix de Paris, mais il a été déçu par l'échec des puissances occidentales à tenir leurs promesses envers les Arabes. En dehors de ses exploits militaires, Lawrence était un écrivain prolifique et un intellectuel. Son oeuvre majeure, "Les sept piliers de la sagesse", est reconnue pour sa profondeur narrative et sa richesse descriptive. Malgré sa renommée, Lawrence a cherché à échapper à la célébrité, adoptant des pseudonymes et menant une vie relativement anonyme dans l'armée de l'air britannique.

• Langue: Français
• Éditeur: BoD - Books on Demand
• Date de sortie: 18 juin 2019
• ISBN: 9782322136346

T.E. Lawrence

Thomas Edward Lawrence, dit Lawrence d'Arabie (1888-1935), est un officier et écrivain britannique. Pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, les reportages du journaliste américain Lowell Thomas firent la notoriété de T. E. Lawrence, officier de liaison britannique durant la grande révolte arabe de 1916-1918. Après la guerre, la version abrégée de son témoignage sur cette campagne, Les Sept Piliers de la sagesse, qui en décrit le caractère aventureux, fut un succès de librairie. La version intégrale, publiée cinquante ans après sa mort, confirma son talent littéraire. David Lean a réalisé en 1962 le film Lawrence d'Arabie, avec Peter O'Toole dans le rôle-titre, remportant un immense succès et sept oscars.

Aperçu du livre

Avis sur Les sept piliers de la sagesse

[jamila1-4 · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

This story was written in Paris, about the Diary of Lawrence of Arabia in terms of places and political that attitudes him.

[dinadansfriend · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

A Book which defies easy categorization. Somewhat of a guerilla war manual, or a poetic evocation of such a war, or a self-serving piece of literary expression, or, a plea for the acceptance of Arab centred nationalism in a post Ottoman war.. We readers do earn a certain amount about the major figures of the WWI war in Arabia, but little about the author. The book is best read with the illustratios the publisher commissioned, and as a sensual experience of heat. Not to be missed but I'm not very clear about the point of writing it.

[amanda4242_1 · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

Tonight I finished [Seven Pillars of Wisdom], a book I've started reading half a dozen times before without making it to the end. It's very long, and can be tedious at times, but then there will be a thrilling scene of setting explosives while the enemy is near or a painfully beautiful description of the desert.

Lawrence's account of the revolt in the desert should not be taken as the definitive--or even reliable--history of the conflict, but he never intended it to be. As he writes in the introductory chapter: "In these pages the history is not of the Arab movement, but of me in it. It is a narrative of daily life, mean happenings, little people. Here are no lessons for the world, no disclosures to shock peoples. It is filled with trivial things, partly that no one mistake for history the bones from which some day a man may make history, and partly for the pleasure it gave me to recall the fellowship of the revolt." It is the romanticized, deeply personal truth of one man.

Throughout the book, Lawrence comes off as a very complicated person: self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating; highly intelligent, but inexperienced; romantic, but often clear-sighted and cynical. By the end, I found myself even more fascinated by this quixotic figure who found himself torn between conflicting loyalties.

I shall leave off with one of my favorite passages:

Later I was sitting alone in my room, working and thinking out as firm
a way as the turbulent memories of the day allowed, when the Muedhdhins
began to send their call of last prayer through the moist night over
the illuminations of the feasting city. One, with a ringing voice of
special sweetness, cried into my window from a near mosque. I found
myself involuntarily distinguishing his words: "God alone is great: I
testify there are no gods, but God: and Mohammed his Prophet. Come to
prayer: come to security. God alone is great: there is no god--but God.'

At the close he dropped his voice two tones, almost to speaking level,
and softly added: 'And He is very good to us this day, O people of
Damascus.' The clamour hushed, as everyone seemed to obey the call to
prayer on this their first night of perfect freedom. While my fancy, in
the overwhelming pause, showed me my loneliness and lack of reason in
their movement: since only for me, of all the hearers, was the event
sorrowful and the phrase meaningless. (Chapter CXX)

[rocketjk · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is T.E. Lawrence's classic memoir of his time in the Arabian desert helping the many tribes try to coalesce into an effective fighting force in order to run the Turkish Empire out of the area, where they had been for centuries. Of course, Lawrence's real agenda was to help destroy the Turkish Army forces in the area and thereby help England and her allies win World War One. As Lawrence continues to gain ever greater trust and prestige among the Arab tribes and their leaders, his sense of fraudulence grows, as well. For the Arabs' cooperation is based in large part on English promises to ensure Arab independence after the war has been won, and Lawrence is fairly certain that the rulers of the Empire are dead set on colonization rather than independence for these people. Still, Lawrence's first loyalty is to king and country, so he carries on.

The tale is long in the telling, checking in at 660 pages. Lawrence was a very good writer, and his diaries were very detailed. The hardships and splendors of his many long trips on camelback through extremely arduous terrain and weather, the details of Beduin desert life, the personalities of the people he comes in contact with, influences and commands and their daily lives and mores, and the frustrations, follies and terrors of individual battles and war in general are all effectively and compellingly related. Sometimes the physical aspects journeys that turn out to be of relatively minimal import are described in such detail that they leave a reader wondering what the point of that particular description was. But in the end, the breadth and length of these details helped me get a real sense of the vast distances being traversed in a way that a more rushed exposition would not. Again, both the physical world of the desert in all its glory and appalling hardship, and the chaos of battle, are very, very well described. The inner-workings of the British high command on the Middle Eastern front, and the personalities involved there as well, are also revealed. So, although this book needs a commitment in time and psychic energy, I feel it is well worth both for anyone interested in the topics described here. The only areas in which I felt Lawrence went astray were in his often agonized reflections about human nature and the relationship between physical and moral desires. There is in particular a pages-long segment of such contemplations towards the end that was pretty much incomprehensible to me. All in all, though, these passages make up a very, very small percentage of the tale.

As I understand the wikipedia entry on Lawrence, it was early on assumed that he had embellished his tale freely, but that as biographers have researched the story they have come to think of Lawrence as a relatively trustworthy narrator after all. I could have that wrong, though.

There was an edited-down version of this memoir, published as Revolt in the Desert, made available during Lawrence's lifetime and still available today. This may be more to the liking of many readers, and, really, I couldn't blame anyone for sticking to the shorter version. Personally, though, I'm glad I made space for the long version.

wikipedia also mentions that fact that Lawrence refused to profit from the sales of either version of his memoirs, choosing instead to donate proceeds to charitable organizations.

[crystalcarroll · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

A good book in its own right, filled with fascinating details, adventure, excitement, and introspection. It details a period in history that helped create the Modern world. for all of that, it is not only one of most successful examples of an autobiography that I have ever read.

It's also is one of those books. The books that help shape characters, dialog, and plot in other stories. Like a stone falling in a pond, the effect ripples out. I found myself recognizing so many ideas and concepts.

It is a brilliant book and a fascinating read. One word of warning however, a bit like a really large slice of chocolate fudge cake. It is hard to eat in one sitting.

[smith54a · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

The strength of this book is in the writing itself. If you have ever read "Sagittarius Rising" by Cecil Lewis you may agree with me.
Tedious? At times. Egotistical? Who wouldn't have been in that role? Truly a multi-level study of war, Arab culture, geography of the Arabian peninsula, his own homo-eroticism, and his underlying guilt at the British and French betrayal of the Arab people make this a classic that still explains and teaches today. It should be required reading for every President, Secretary of State, and everybody on the Middle East desk in the State Dept.

[pghdragonman · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

This book belongs on the bookshelf of any student of World Politics and / or Middle East Politics in particular. Despite the passing of the years, little has changed, other than some arbitrary borders being redrawn, in Arab politics since Lawrence's account was first published. The same problems that stymied the British in the early 20th Century are still preventing peace in the region today.

An excellent work and an excellent autobiography.