Ross: T. E. Lawrence Discovers America

Ross, parts of which appeared in Evergreen Review, is a created history based on the experiences of the mysterious Ross (T. E. Lawrence) in America, his relations with Billy, a street urchin, and Millicent Molloy, a famous Broadway actress. Billy, believing he has accidentally killed Ross during a session of flagellation, escapes by ship, pursued by a transvestite FBI agent (Herbert Hoover). He finally reaches Paris, where Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Picasso, Hemingway and other notorious intellectuals welcome him with open arms. Billy is kidnapped by Count Czerny, a Hungarian noble, and spirited away to his castle where Millicent Molloy is being kept in sexual thrall. In a bloody uprising the fates of Billy and Millicent hang in the balance while Ross, in true Lawrence of Arabia fashion, tries desperately to save them. Their lives intersect once more in a frenzied debacle.