Genius of Friendship: T. E. Lawrence

'Genius of Friendship', long out of print, is a memoir by Henry Williamson recounting his friendship with T. E. Lawrence – ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. This was a friendship through correspondence, for the two men actually met only twice. It had its beginning in a long letter critiquing Williamson's Hawthornden Prize-winning book 'Tarka the Otter' that Lawrence sent to Edward Garnett from India early in 1928, and which Garnett then forwarded to Williamson. The memoir quotes extensively from Lawrence’s letters to Williamson, which are both literary and personal in content, and make for fascinating reading. They continue up to Lawrence’s death in 1935; indeed, Lawrence’s last act, before his fatal motorcycle accident, was to send a telegram to Williamson arranging a meeting; he crashed while returning from the post office. The telegram is reproduced as a frontispiece to the book.