Why did Thesiger do it?

1. Why did Thesiger do it? “For me, exploration was a personal venture. I did not go to the Arabian Desert to collect plants nor to make a map; such things were incidental. At heart I knew that to write or even to talk of my travels was to tarnish the achievement. I went there to find peace in the hardship of desert travel and the company of desert peoples. I set myself a goal on these journeys, and, although the goal itself was unimportant, its attainment had to be worth every effort and sacrifice. Scott had gone to the South Pole in order to stand for a few minutes on one particular and almost inaccessible spot on the earth’s surface. He and his companions died on their way back, but even as they were dying he never doubted that the journey had been worth while” (p. 278).

2. “In this exploratory adventure, seen in such films as Lawrence of Arabia and the Indiana Jones series, the camera relays the hero’s dynamic movement across a passive, static space, gradually stripping the land of its “enigma,” as the spectator winds visual access to Oriental treasures through the eyes of the explorer-protagonist. Lawrence of Arabia provides an example of Western historical representation whereby the individual Romantic “genius” leads the Arab national revolt, presumed to be a passive entity awaiting T.E. Lawrence’ inspiration. (Arab sources obviously have challenged this historical account.) The unveiling of the mysteries of an unknown space becomes a rite de passage allegorizing the Western achievement of virile heroic stature” (Ella Shohat, “Gender and Culture of Empire”, 1991, p. 52)