ABSTRACT
E. M. Hull’s bestseller The Sheik (1919) became a transatlantic phenomenon in 1921, but as its retiring author was to admit, it was written simply to relieve tension while she waited at home with her husband away contributing to the war effort. This article considers the desert romance in light of nomadic theory as a response to the First World War that engages with the glorification of the Middle East campaigns and manipulates the figure of the nomad, popularized by T. E. Lawrence’s part in the Arab revolt, to articulate women’s heightened sense of estrangement from the nation and their hopes to become active agents in rebuilding British national identity in the post-war era.
