Paradigms and Empowerment: The Arabic Orient and Orientalist Wish Fulfilment

This paper is based on a section from one of the chapters of my PhD thesis. The paper explores an aspect of T E Lawrence’s relationship with the Arabic Orient pre- and during his involvement in the Arab Revolt. In particular, the paper is concerned with the dream-like role the Arabic Orient appears to have played in fulfilling Lawrence’s chivalric fantasy of becoming a medieval knight (albeit in reverse). I draw on Freud’s theory on dreams in The Interpretation of Dreams (1901) to highlight what I see as an essential marker of the role of the Arabic Orient in fulfilling Orientalist dreams in general and Lawrence’s in particular. Although adapted to be a stand-alone article that is mainly concerned with a specific angle of T E Lawrence’s interaction with (and within) the Arabic Orient, the paper is part of a larger comparative framework involving Sir Richard Burton’s use of Orientalism. An overview of the history of the Arab Revolt, T E Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph (1926) as well as Freud’s theory on dreams may help contextualise some of the points I make in the paper. The ideas presented in this paper will appear in their complete form in my final PhD thesis when submitted and/or published next year, 2013.