caa a22 4500 378858793 CHVBK 20180305123341.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161128e20031023xx s 000 0 eng 10.1515/ANGL.2003.32 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)gruyter-10.1515/ANGL.2003.32 Krahé Peter Berlin Chinese Whispers: Der T. E. Lawrence-Mythos im Spiegel des 20. Jahrhunderts [Elektronische Daten] [Peter Krahé] This article reviews the history of the Lawrence myth in the course of the 20th century. Since Lawrence's life was rich in ambiguity and ambivalence, it has been passed on among biographers and commentators in a way that has made the real person all but disappear behind the myth. Indeed, the hero himself was eager to cultivate his own legend. An early protagonist of popular culture, Lawrence is shown to have served specific psychological needs for each decade after the Great War. In the immediate post-war era, he embodied the past glory of individual heroism that had vanished in the mass actions of trench warfare. In the dire conditions of the late twenties and early thirties, he was perceived by many to be Britain's hope for a better future, despite his apparent desire to retreat to the anonymous life of a private soldier. Even after his death, clouded in mystery, Lawrence maintained this rôle, being transferred to the realm of what might have been. With decolonization and the loss of the imperial spirit after the Second World War, the fascination of the lone hero began to fade away. At the same time, the psychological analysis and debunking of his personality gained momentum. Despite the occasional new biography, Lawrence of Arabia seems to have lost his enigmatic appeal as well as his function for British national identity. © Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH, Tübingen 2003 Anglia - Zeitschrift für englische Philologie Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG 121/1(2003-10-23), 32-57 0340-5222 121:1<32 2003 121 ANGL https://doi.org/10.1515/ANGL.2003.32 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1515/ANGL.2003.32 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Krahé Peter Berlin NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Anglia - Zeitschrift für englische Philologie Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG 121/1(2003-10-23), 32-57 0340-5222 121:1<32 2003 121 ANGL CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-gruyter