Zachary Davis: Welcome to Writ Large, a podcast about how books change the world. I'm more inclined to look for it in these very difficult and demanding passages about what we would label sort of philosophy and religion. He used this book not only to chronicle his time in the Middle East, but also to compile the complexities of his life and make sense of the world around him at the time.Ĭharles Stang: Mostly people cite Lawrence as, like, a very good guerrilla soldier or a kind of savvy diplomat or an ascetic adventurer, and all those things are true, but I don't actually think that's the center around which to organize his chaotic and complicated life. Zachary Davis: Lawrence led an interesting life. And I was reading the book in many of the places that the action of Seven Pillars takes place. So, I marched down the high street, bought a copy, and took it with me as I traveled through Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Jordan. And so I was surprised to learn who he was, what he had done, and that he'd written this long and allegedly beautiful book called Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Lawrence as a kind of archetypal outsider. I happened to be reading at that time another book called The Outsider by Colin Wilson. And I was looking for something to bring with me to read. So, I had a, I had a month to myself, and I was travelling for the first time to the Middle East. Zachary Davis: Stang first came across this book when he was abroad in the 1990s.Ĭharles Stang: Well, I was living in England at the time, and as you may know, England has these long breaks, these long vacations, and this was the Easter vacation. I'm a professor at Harvard Divinity School, and I'm the director of the Center for the Study of World Religions there. What most people don’t know, however, is that Lawrence of Arabia is based on Lawrence’s book Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an autobiographical account of his role in WWI.Ĭharles Stang: It's one of the most profound reading experiences I've ever had. It’s even the film that Steven Spielberg credits for inspiring him to become a director. Since then, its reputation has only grown and is now considered one of the greatest films ever made. It earned the equivalent of what would be today $600,000,000 at the box office and swept the oscars, including Best Picture. Lawrence, a British military officer who played a key role in World War I. Zachary Davis: In 1962, Columbia Pictures released Lawrence of Arabia, a nearly four hour epic film depicting T.E.

Book the seven pillars of wisdom