Lawrence had a sinister reputation in France, both during his lifetime and even today, being seen as an implacable "enemy of France"; the man who was supposedly constantly stirring up the Syrians to revolt against French rule throughout the 1920s. The French historian Maurice Larès wrote that the real reason for France's problems in Syria was that the Syrians did not want to be ruled by France, and the French needed a "scapegoat" to blame for their difficulties in ruling the country. Larès wrote that far from being a Francophobe, as he is usually depicted in France, Lawrence was really a Francophile. Larès wrote: "But we should note that a man rarely devotes much of his time and effort to the study of a language and of the literature of a people he hates, unless this is in order to work for its destruction (Eichmann's behavior may be an instance of this), which was clearly not Lawrence's case. Had Lawrence really disliked the French, would he, even for financial reasons, have translated French novels into English? The quality of his translation of Le Gigantesque (The Forest Giant) reveals not only his conscientiousness as an artist but also a knowledge of French that can scarcely have derived from unfriendly feelings". Larès concluded that the popular thesis in France that Lawrence had "virulent anti-French prejudices" is not supported by the facts.
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posted 2443 days ago