Product Description
From one of the last century's greatest storytellers, Lawrence Durrell, comes a sumptuous collection of essays that describe the author's unique and cherished approach to life, with its pagan enjoyments as well as its intellectual pursuits. The book contains Durrell's articles about the Mediterranean and Aegean islands he loved so much, along with passages from his letters. My books are always about living in places, Durrell wrote, not just rushing through them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Durrell treasure chest
Here we have a marvelous collection of short works by Lawrence Durrell that should satisfy both beginners and older Durrell addicts.

We all know that, as the most brilliant member of a brilliant family, LD had an enviably interesting life, living all over the globe for more or less long periods and reflecting deeply on what he observed. This volume shows that he also had a fascinating inner life -- of the mind, the soul, the spirit. Edited by Alan G. Thomas, it contains letters and articles along with excerpts from early works that show the writer had lots of star quality even as a young man, even if the world didn't come to know about it till The Alexandria Quartet.

Durrel seems to have been capable of a very wide range of emotions and feelings. Mostly he had a childlike (but not childish) sense of wonder at the world and the great diversity to be found among people of various nations and climates. Also central to his emotional life is his sense of compassion...this becomes clear in the short memoir about J. Gawsworth.

The letters -- to such figures as Freya Stark, Theoldore Stephamides, his agent Anne Ridler, and even T.S. Eliot, among others, are written from a variety of locales and offer insightful comments, especially comparative observations, on places and people. He tries to get to the heart of the notion of identity, what it means to a Frenchman, say, to be French, or Greekness to a Greek. He himself was not exactly taken with Argentina and he had no love at all for its people, whom he rightly describes as zombies. Of course he loved Greece above all nations and is proud to speak Greek fluently. He probably would have had many good things to say about Yugoslavia but the blight of Communist dictatorship colors his reaction to life in that sad country.

Like most persons of high and genuine refinement, he is hopelessly enamored of French culture and civilization. Some of the finest pieces in this book deal with French writers and artists (Stendhal is the preferred novelist and gets a lot of attention here). But Durrell is also interested in more mundane, everyday pursuits like wine production, studies at a university, and political allegiances.

Still, Durrells strongest, most enduring love is reserved for Greece and the Greek people among whom he lived for so many years. Especially touching is the piece where he describes his return to the Island of Corfu as an acclaimed writer after a twenty year absence only to discover that his old friends and neighbors, whose lives he had described so beautifully in his writings, have now become infected with materialism, commercialism and the profit motive, and they even want to capitalize on his fame. They suggest he come back to the village and live in his former house so they can get more money from the tourists by showing him off to them.

Yet the timeless beauty of the Greek people and the earthly paradise they inhabit comes shining forth in very many pages of this splendid book, which was editied and published during the writer's lifetime.

A great read for Durrell enthusiasts
The book is a collection of letters, short works, and excerpts from larger works by Durrell.Of particular interest is 'Asylum in the Snow' & 'Zero', which were written around the time Durrell visited Henry Miller& Anäis Nin in Paris.The two short stories are remarkable for such ayoung writer, and give ample reason for T.S. Eliot's extremely high praisefor Durrell.Feel free to email me to discuss this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This quartet of novels, undoubtedly one of the great English works of the post-World War II period, is set in war-time Alexandria, with its politics, passions, corruption and vice. The experimental form presents the narrative from different view points, allowing the story to unfold gradually. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lost in Time
As good as anything Durrell wrote in The Alexandria Quartet.Monsieur is the first book in his Avignon Quintet--Livia, Constance, Sebastian, and Quinx are the others.Nearly all of these are out of print and not so easy to find.If you can get them from Amazon it is probably the best way to go.If you like going back in time to other worlds where ghosts and knights and gnostics and drugs all come together in mansions somewhere along the Nile, then this is the book for you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Greek Island By Durrell
Very interesting and useful for travel to the Greek Island even though it is dated in some ways.

HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY ARE STILL ALIVE AND WELL
Lawrence Durrell is best known as a novelist, in particular for the four novels that make up his ALEXANDRIA QUARTET.In addition, he is both a poet and a travel writer.THE GREEK ISLANDS, though not one of his better known works, is much more than an ordinary travel guide.As he says, "the modern tourist is already well provided for in that respect."How, then, would you describe this book?

For starters, it is an island by island discussion of the physical characteristics, history, mythological importance, and peculiarities of each island.Durrell blends these together so well that, by the end of each section, you feel that you know what makes each island unique and that traveling there would be more like returning to the home of an old friend than making a first visit.He also relates those experiences that might be a warning to skip one or two of the smaller islands.In this respect he tells of an island so small that the only place to sleep was on the floor of a small chapel.This, in itself, was no reason to stay away, but the bed bug bites and fleas were.Luckily this sort of experience was the exception, not the norm.

During an extensive period before World War II, Durrell was an employee of the British Foreign Service and lived and traveled in the Greek Islands for several years.After the war, he spent several more years in a similar position for the Allies.He got to know the native inhabitants much more intimately than most foreigners ever do.He lived in some of their homes, hiked and camped in their less populous areas, and absorbed the ambience of many of the islands.During that period he kept extensive diaries.In preparing this book, these diaries along with contacts with many old friends still on the scene provided the basic information for the book.

There are two books that I wish that I had read before my visits to the Greek Islands in the early and mid '80's.This is one and Kazantzakis' REPORT TO GRECO is the other.Each provided its own outlook, and together they give an unbeatable overview.Most of us see ruins, particularly on islands such as Delos, the legendary birthplace of Apollo, drink, dance, and shop on islands such as Mykonos, eat the food and drink ouzo and retsina wherever we go, but we don't go out of or way to meet the "before the tourist came" natives.Durrell talks of going to out of the way islands and villages where one finds a room by finding the mayor who, in turn, introduces you to someone who takes you into their home as if you were a friend of the family.To do this, you have to be more of a risk taker than most of us are.I'm not sure that I fit that mold by the time I was there in the '80's, but I'd like to think that I might have.I certainly did when I was younger and living in the Philippines.Then, I (foolishly?) knew no fear, and even slept, one night in a carabao pen.(A carabao is a domesticated water buffalo.)Any port in a storm when you're young and adventurous.

To summarize, Durrell presents a picture of the Islands that integrates a place, a people, an ancient history, a mythology replete with warring gods and goddesses, and a modern history, including wars and rebellions, and freedom and slavery,into an experience worth reading about, and worth seeking out.If I'd read THE GREEK ISLANDS before my trips, I would have been more on the lookout for that world.I think that it's still there for those of us who really seek it out. ... Read more

Product Description
Lawrence George Durrell (Jalandhar India 27 de febrero de 1912 Sommieres Francia 7 de noviembre de 1990) fue un escritor britanico hermano del tambien escritor y zoologo Gerald Durrell. Escribio biografias poesia obras de teatro de viaje y novelas. Durrell se resistio a que lo asociasen con el Reino Unido y prefirio ser considerado cosmopolita. Postumamente se descubrio que en realidad nunca tuvo la ciudadania britanica1 . Se considera que su obra maestra es la tetralogia El cuarteto de Alejandria ... Read more

Product Description
Lawrence George Durrell (Jalandhar India 27 de febrero de 1912 Sommieres Francia 7 de noviembre de 1990) fue un escritor britanico hermano del tambien escritor y zoologo Gerald Durrell. Escribio biografias poesia obras de teatro de viaje y novelas. Durrell se resistio a que lo asociasen con el Reino Unido y prefirio ser considerado cosmopolita. Postumamente se descubrio que en realidad nunca tuvo la ciudadania britanica1 . Se considera que su obra maestra es la tetralogia El cuarteto de Alejandria ... Read more

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Reflections on a Marine Venus explores life on a magical and enchanting island (Rhodes) right after World War II. It is about Greece when it was a demi-paradise. But it is also about the distillation of life and experience, the savoring of all the exquisite pleasures, physical, sensual and intellectual, available on one lovely island at one time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Another Durrell portrayal of a Greek time and place that, sadly, is no more
REFLECTIONS ON A MARINE VENUS is the second of Lawrence Durrell's "travelogues", for want of a more precise word. His books on exotic Mediterranean isles -- for example, Corfu, Rhodes, Cyprus, and Sicily -- are sui generis blends of memoir, history, myth, philosophy, and prose poetry.The subject of REFLECTIONS ON A MARINE VENUS is the isle of Rhodes, where Durrell spent about two years (1945-1947) as the head of the Information Office during the time that Great Britain administered Rhodes, after defeat and expulsion of the Germans and before turning responsibility for its governance back to Greece.

The "Marine Venus" was an ancient statue of a naked woman that some fishermen had dragged up in their nets from the bottom of Rhodes harbor; the statue was placed in a museum on the island where "she sits * * * gravely meditating upon the works of time."For Durrell, the statue symbolizes not only the island, but "the whole idea of Greece" and "a past whose greatest hopes and ideals fell to ruins."

The book proceeds in a leisurely and relaxed fashion, as did life on Rhodes.When it comes to describing a landscape (or seascape) or conveying a sense of place, Durrell is a master, and a poet.He also is a highly literate instructor on the history (stretching back to the mythology) of a place, although for him it is a somewhat idiosyncratic history.As he explains, "history as chronology is woefully misleading; for the history of a place, dispersed by time, lives on in fable, gesture, intonation, raw habit."

Rhodes of 1945-1947 was not quite the island paradise it probably was before WWII and maybe again in the 50s and 60s (before affluent Europeans began flocking to it for their vacations and second homes).When Durrell was there, the scars of war -- including mine fields, shell casings, and burned-out bunkers and gun placements -- were still fresh and almost ubiquitous.Nor had the economy recovered: for example, the daily newspaper that Durrell superintended publication of was issued for a penny but was worth two cents locally as wrapping paper, so that the paper made much more money from scrapped issues than from current sales.

Perhaps it is because the War had not yet abandoned Rhodes that REFLECTIONS ON A MARINE VENUS is not quite the magical and lyrical tour de force that I found Durrell's earlier travelogue "Prospero's Cell" (about Corfu, circa 1937-1938) to be.Perhaps it is because Corfu simply was more magical and lyrical than Rhodes.Likely it also has something to do with the genius of Durrell's literary efforts.In any event, "Prospero's Cell" is clearly the superior work, but REFLECTIONS ON A MARINE VENUS nonetheless warrants a readership and, therefore, remaining in print.

A classic look at the island of Rhodes!
Lawrence Durrell wrote this little book based on his life on Rhodes after World War II. This a more mature and settled Durrell than the young man who first brought us "Prospero's Cell" about Corfu or who wrote the "Alexandria Quartet" from Egypt during the war. Durrell's work is a time machine, taking the reader back to recovering Rhodes amidst poverty, sunshine, vibrant villages, and sparkling seas. His eye is fresh and clear, and his descriptions transport the reader to a place and time that are ageless and real. Another small classic!

Reviewed by David Lundberg, author ofOlympic Wandering: Time Travel Through Greece

Richly sensuous
This is a lovely piece of travel writing about the Island of Rhodes by a master observer of both the human character and the land- and seascapes with which Greece and its islands always delight us. It is a richlysensuous account of Durrell's years in the British civil service just afterthe end of WWII and just before the island is handed back to Greece. Theeye is feted with descriptions of fields, hills, oranges and lemons, andflowers of every form and color. Sounds range from the rhythm of the sea(alternately savage and soothing) to Greek folk songs to sparklingconversation with Brit expatriates (including Gideon the half-sightedwonder). The author even offers a neat summation of a Greek picnic in temsof smells: petrol, garlic, wine and goat. Intermingled withthesedelicious attacks on the senses there is the play of light over the islandas the sun moves across the sky and its rays are filtered through sea mist,mythology and the grim reality of having to rebuild a nation and an islandafter Nazi cruelty has left it a shambles. Like it or not, the reader isfilled in on some mildly interesting points in the author's understandingof ancient history and the medieval Knights of St. John, who came intopossession of the island for a time. The last section is about an enormouscookout in honor of a saint at whose shrine miracles have been know tooccur, even raising the dead. It is a stroke of irony that during thefestivities a young child is run over by a truck and dies the following daydespite the best efforts of Mills, a good hearted but overextended Britishdoctor. All in all, this is a delightful book, highly recommendable forthose who enjoy travel writing. But Durrell is no Rebecca West, and this isnot an example of the best Durrell. But it isn't bad Durrell, either. ... Read more

Product Description
In Through the Dark Labyrinth, Gordon Bowker, author of the critically acclaimed biography of Malcolm Lowry, takes the full measure of Lawrence Durrell, the man and the writer. The result is the first complete biography of one of the major figures of modern literature--a profile of an obsessed individual whose life was as fascinating and controversial as his fiction. of illustrations.Amazon.com Review
Lawrence Durrell, best known as the author of the acclaimed Alexandria Quartet, is often considered to be one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. A friend and confidante of Henry Miller and Anais Nin, he was reputed to live on the edge while pursuing his career as a British diplomat. In this biography, Gordon Bowker, the author of Pursued by Furies: A life of Malcom Lowry, reveals Durrell to be a complex man beset at times by incredibly painful circumstances that he was somehow able to transmute into his fiction. Indeed, at times the writer's life, with four marriages, many affairs, some unusual sexual obsessions, and experiences living and traveling in unusual locations, almost reads like exotic fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Alleged incest
Gordon Bowker's Through the Dark Labyrinth is a biography of the British author, Lawrence Durrell.Like Durrell's other major biographer, Ian MacNiven, Bowker discusses the charge that Durrell committed incest with his daughter, Sappho. Like MacNiven, Bowker regards the charge as unproven. He points out that Sappho did not make a specific charge against her father in her journals concerning physical incest, but rather spoke there (and elsewhere)of "mental" or "psychological" incest. This does not mean that Bowker defends Durrell's mean-spirited and psychologically damaging behavior toward Sappho (and many others). But it does mean that Bowker--like MacNiven--refrains from sensationalistic accusations. Durrell's behavior toward his daughters, wives, lovers, and friends sheds a lot of light on the creation of his great, four-novel opus, The Alexandria Quartet, as well as on his other works, in particular his last giant work, the Avignon Quintet. In many of his novels, Durrell is obsessed with incest as well as death, time, and the relativity of knowledge. He thought truly great thoughts, and Bowker, like MacNiven, discusses them very well. It ought to be possible to separate Durrell's ideas and art from the less appealing aspects of his personality, just as we separate Wagner's great music from his proto-Nazi ideas.Bowker helps us do this, especially in regards to the charge of incest.

A decent biography and fun read
Gordon Bowker's biography of Durrell is an easy read and has plenty of references to Durrell's 'dark side' to satisfy the reader who is looking for pure entertainment.As an academic biography it is hindered by notbeing able to quote from Durrell's own works or from unpublished materials,since it was released very shortly before the more thorough officialbiography.Moreoever the attention to accuracy is not nearly as close asthat of Ian MacNiven's work (the official biography), and Bowker has atendency toward omitting important details which would alter to 'glamour'of the biography.One such point of difference is the allegations ofincest which were posthumously levelled against Durrell and his daughter bythe *publicist* for his deceased daughter's journals.Noteably, thesejournals do not contain this allegation and were being published in thewake of Nin's "Incest".Bowker treats these as fact, despite theproblems involved, & does not reveal that the allegations were not madeby the daughter nor that the 'friend' who made them had waited ten yearsbefore raising the issue (which surely helped publicity).Bowker'sbiography is fun and popular, but for accuracy, detail and literary meritIan MacNiven's new biography "Lawrence Durrell; A Biography" is afar better value.Nonetheless, anyone interesting in Durrell's works wouldbenefit from both.Feel free to email me to discuss this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Translated here for the first time, Closed Doors, an annoying and frustratingbook according to its author, is an intriguing and eye-opening account of thestruggle for independence of Cyprus, a small country which earlier this year(2004) joined the European Union. Closed Doors presents a moving andinsightful contribution to pos tcolonial studies, intended by Costas Montis as ananswer to Bitter Lemons, by well-known English author and colonial officialLawrence Durrell.As stated in the translator's introduction, the two books constitute "adebate between two powerful artists who produced political books to influencethe depiction of the narrative of the struggle for Cypriot independence. ForMontis, Closed Doors was an attempt to reappropriate that narrative fromDurrell, to present a picture of the struggle for freedom by a Cypriot who, as he says in his brief explanation, had lived through the entire four years of therevolt." ... Read more

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Among the most brilliant fictional works of the twentieth century, Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet is at once a culmination of modernist literature and an exploration of the conscious construction of truth and reality.Structured to reflect Einstein's relativity theory, theAlexandria Quartet is an intricate interweaving of linguistic resources. Using M. A. K. Halliday's systemic linguistic theory of text analysis, (Re)constructing Reality probes the inner workings of Durrell's masterpiece to bring us closer to an understanding of how meaning is created. In the process, this book provides insight into both the Alexandria Quartet itself, as well as into the linguistic nature of literary composition. ... Read more

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A curious account of "seven modern European tourists who get lost in the labyrinth in Crete where the Minotaur has begun to make a comeback." First published 1947 as Celafu, it met with little success and was Durrell's last novel for 10 years. Reprinted 1962, after the success of the Alexandria Quartet, as "Dark Labyrinth." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Clever, surprising, a delight, pure Durrell
Durrell (The Alexandria Quartet) originally published this"adventure" under another name, but it's pure Durrell; multiplecharacter's find their appropriate discovery in the labyrinth under Crete,and an O.Henry style conclusion offers new possibilities. Deeper than youthink. ... Read more