Talk:Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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If the title of the book includes the word the then it is part of the title and has to be included, just as if it is part of a newspaper name it is included, eg The Irish Times not Irish Times. In contrast, though people say the Irish Independent, it isn't part of the title, so that goes in as Irish Independent. The is dropped if you are making up a title our you are not quoting a name. Names, like the name of a book, are sacrosanct and have to be used as written. (See The in the title on wiki is often a good indicator that the article is about a book, a film, a newspaper, etc with a specific title. FearÉIREANN 17:00 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Yeah. It was pretty sure that it was "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom", so I moved it. Then I actually looked at a copy (making the scan) and realised it is clearly the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". So I moved it back. You moved it again. And now I've moved it back (perhaps this is why the Wikipedia database is so slow :) CGS 17:08 17 Jul 2003 (UTC).

Opps. I thought it was The . . . also. So we both have learned something on wiki tonight! :-) I thought this was another case of remove THE at all costs approach of some wikians but thankfully not. FearÉIREANN 17:26 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

"The" means that there are only seven. Omission of the definite article leaves open the possibility that there are more than seven pillars and that these are seven of an indefinite number of pillars. But does it matter how many pillars there are in the universe?

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Can anyone translate that? I'm not even sure which language it is (something arabian I would presume). CGS 19:50 17 Jul 2003 (UTC).

ermmm... it looks like english to me: "the sword also ... ... ... death" -- Tarquin 19:56 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Perhaps.... but that character in the middle of the penultimate line (a sort of dropped t) doesn't look latin to me. CGS 20:06 17 Jul 2003 (UTC).

It's just sloppy (or "artistic") handwriting in English, that dropped t is "+" as an abbreviation for "and". It seems to be "The sword also means clean-ness + death", which is something T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote in a letter to Eric Kennington, who incorporated it into the crossed-daggers design on the cover of the first public edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1935, and since the picture is titled "Seven pillars tooling", it's probably a picture of the cover in question. -- Someone else 20:23 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Yeah - I scanned it from my 1st edition of Pillars. CGS 21:02 17 Jul 2003 (UTC).

Doesn't look like arabic, or any related alphabet, although I see the similarity. Looks to me like "itu sword also medus dearq-uess death". (Which doesn't make any sense to me...) כסיף Cyp 20:32 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

After edit conflict: Ok, "The sword also means clean-ness + death" seems more likely than what I read... כסיף Cyp 20:32 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Thanks. CGS 21:00 17 Jul 2003 (UTC).

The third word looks much more like "alas" than "also". --Fritzlein 18:18 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

No, it is "also". I looked it up. CGS 21:53, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC).

Yep, but the front page still says "alas". Changing it. User:TimBray Nov/04

[edit] Content

I know it's an autobiographical book, and therefore most of its content should be covered in T. E. Lawrence, but it seems sad that there isn't more about 'the plot'. There's a long and interesting section on the book's editions and its varying word-counts, but nothing on why it remains in print, why it remains an object of fascination. As I recall, interest in the book resurged during the recent hostilities in Iraq, so Lawrence must have been onto something. Ashley Pomeroy 16:25, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Just started reading it. Finishing the Introduction. It is mind-blowing! His style of writing, his analysis, his commentary and his facts. I wonder why I never got round to reading it before. I might add an outline of it.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 23:30, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)

Did you finish it? Did your enthusiasm continue unabated? Do you feel up to writing a summary/outline of some description? –Hajor 17:02, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)