Acquisitions (58): Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence Durrell: Judith: A Novel (2012)

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Lawrence Durrell


Lawrence Durrell: Judith: A Novel (2012)
[Fishpond.co.nz - ordered: October 30 / received: November 19, 2021]:

Lawrence Durrell. Judith: A Novel. 1962-66. Ed. Richard Pine. New York: Open Road Integrated Media, 2012.

Lawrence Durrell: The Alexandria Quartet (1957-60)


Capitals of Memory

'Alexandria, the capital of memory ...'

There can't be many bookish people who haven't, at one time or another, succumbed - however guiltily - to the charm of Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. For some of us the attraction has been more infectious, resulting in a lifetime of servitude to his astonishing body of work.

Is it an adolescent taste? Undoubtedly. But so what? Nobody ever met anybody in the least like Durrell's Justine ouside a fever dream - but that doesn't make her, or (more to the point) the city which provides the essential backdrop to her existence, any the less memorable.

It may come as a shock to the admirers of his younger brother Gerald, but some of us read all the way through the latter's Corfu Trilogy solely because of what Larry himself referred to as the 'Dickensian caricature' it provides of the young L.G.D. [Lawrence George Durrell; L. G. Darley, narrator of Justine; or (in the Blakean terms employed by his character Pursewarden): 'Lineaments of Gratified Desire'].

Opinions differ about Durrell's poetry. T. S. Eliot liked it. It doesn't do a lot for me, I must confess. But his prose ...! All those 'landscape notes' scattered through the Alexandria Quartet ... Who knew that you were actually allowed to write like that?

Since his death thirty-odd years ago, his reputation has certainly taken a bit of a beating. But somehow the books have continued to sell: the novels and the travel books, that is. And there have been a couple of recent additions to the canon which I'm afraid it took small persuasion for me to add to my Christmas shopping list.

One of these was a book of his uncollected travel essays:

Lawrence Durrell: From the Elephant's Back: Collected Essays & Travel Writings
Ed. James Gifford (2015)

The other, a novel called Judith, written over the period 1962-66, had a somewhat more complicated genesis. The publisher's blurb describes it as follows:

It is the eve of Britain’s withdrawal from Palestine in 1948, a moment that will mark the beginning of a new Israel. But the course of history is uncertain, and Israel’s territorial enemies plan to smother the new country at its birth. Judith Roth has escaped the concentration camps in Germany only to be plunged into the new conflict, one with stakes just as high for her as they are for her people.

Initially conceived as a screenplay for the 1966 film starring Sophia Loren, Lawrence Durrell’s previously unpublished novel offers a thrilling portrayal of a place and time when ancient history crashed against the fragile bulwarks of the modernizing world.

Daniel Mann, dir.: Judith
with Sophia Loren, Jack Hawkins, Peter Finch (1966)

Sure enough, when you visit the Wikipedia page for this Sophia Loren vehicle, you'll find it specified as having been "directed by Daniel Mann and produced by Kurt Unger from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes, based on the story by Lawrence Durrell."

It's a film treatment, in other words: presumably one designed to cash in on the success of the Leon Uris film Exodus (1960), as well as banking on the cachet of Durrell's then recent success with The Alexandria Quartet. That's not to say that the theme had no personal resonance for him, however.

He had, after all, been married to Eve Cohen, a Jewish Alexandrian (and the inspiration for Justine), from 1947 until their divorce in 1955. His next wife, Claude-Marie Vincendon, was also a Jewish woman born in Alexandria. They married in 1961, just before he started work on Judith. She died of cancer in 1967.

Nor was the subject of Britain's post-war colonial withdrawal, and the moral compromises and injustices that entailed, entirely alien to him. His travel book / memoir Bitter Lemons (1957) describes the three years, from 1953 to 1956, which he spent living on Cyprus after resigning from the British Foreign Service. These years saw the growth of Greek and Turkish nationalism on the island. The one thing both sides agreed on, besides their hatred for each other, was the need to get rid of the British. Durrell left after assassination threats had been made against him personally.

I look forward to reading what he made of these themes in his novel. It is, I suppose, likely to be little more than a curiosity, a pendant rather than a real addition to our sense of his life's work. With a talent of this size, however, one can't afford to neglect any possible gems.

After all, few Durrell fans have paid much attention to his 1947 novel Cefalu (retitled The Dark Labyrinth in subsequent reprints). It is in many ways my favourite book of his, however, and it shows how unwise it can be to neglect even the deserted byways of a favourite author's oeuvre!

Lawrence Durrell: The Dark Labyrinth (1947)

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Lawrence Durrell (1959)

Lawrence George Durrell (1912-1990)

Books I own are marked in bold:

Poetry:



Lawrence Durrell: A Private Country (1943)



1. Quaint Fragments: Poems Written between the Ages of Sixteen and Nineteen (1931)
2. Ten Poems (1932)
3. Transition: Poems (1934)
4. A Private Country (1943)
5. Cities, Plains and People (1946)
6. On Seeming to Presume (1948)
7. Collected Poems (1957)
   • Collected Poems. 1957. Second Edition. London: Faber, 1968.
8. The Poetry of Lawrence Durrell (1962)
9. Selected Poems: 1953–1963. Ed. Alan Ross (1964)
   • Selected Poems: 1953–1963. Ed. Alan Ross. 1964. London: Faber, 1965.
10. The Ikons (1966)
11. The Suchness of the Old Boy (1972)
12. Collected Poems: 1931–1974. Ed. James A. Brigham (1980)
    • Collected Poems: 1931–1974. Ed. James A. Brigham. London: Faber, 1980.
13. Selected Poems of Lawrence Durrell. Ed. Peter Porter (2006)

Lawrence Durrell: Collected Poems: 1931-1974 (1980)


Fiction:



Lawrence Durrell: The Black Book (1938)



14. Pied Piper of Lovers (1935)
    • Pied Piper of Lovers. 1935. Ed. James Gifford. Afterword by James A. Brigham. Victoria, BC: ELS Editions, 2008.
15. [as ‘Charles Norden’]. Panic Spring: A Romance (1937)
    • Panic Spring: A Romance. 1937. Ed. James Gifford. Introduction by Richard Pine. Afterword by James A. Brigham. Victoria, BC: ELS Editions, 2008.
16. The Black Book: A Novel (1938)
    • The Black Book: A Novel. 1938. Faber Paperbacks. London: Faber, 1977.
17. Cefalu (1947)
    • The Dark Labyrinth: A Novel. [‘Cefalu’, 1947]. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1964.
18. White Eagles Over Serbia (1957)
    • White Eagles Over Serbia. 1957. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1973.
19. Justine (1957)
    • Justine. 1957. The Alexandria Quartet, 1. London: Faber, 1964.
20. Balthazar (1958)
    • Balthazar. 1958. The Alexandria Quartet, 2. London: Faber, 1963.
21. Mountolive (1958)
    • Mountolive. 1958. The Alexandria Quartet, 3. London: Faber, 1963.
22. Clea (1960)
    • Clea. 1960. The Alexandria Quartet, 4. London: Faber, 1967.
23. The Alexandria Quartet (1957-60)
    1. Justine (1957)
    2. Balthazar (1958)
    3. Mountolive (1958)
    4. Clea (1960)
    • The Alexandria Quartet: Justine; Balthazar; Mountolive: Clea. 1957, 1958, 1958, 1960. London: Faber, 1962.
    • The Alexandria Quartet: Justine; Balthazar; Mountolive; Clea. 1957, 1958, 1958, 1960, & 1962. Faber Paperbacks. London: Faber, 1983.
24. Tunc: A Novel (1968)
    • Tunc: A Novel. London: Faber, 1968.
25. Nunquam: A Novel (1970)
    • Nunquam: A Novel. 1970. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1971.
26. The Revolt of Aphrodite (1968-70)
    1. Tunc (1968)
    2. Nunquam (1970)
    • The Revolt of Aphrodite: Tunc and Nunquam. 1968, 1970. London: Faber, 1974.
27. Monsieur: or, The Prince of Darkness (1974)
    • Monsieur: or, The Prince of Darkness: A Novel. 1974. London: Faber, 1976.
    • Monsieur, or The Prince of Darkness. The Avignon Quintet, 1. 1974. London: Faber, 1986.
28. Livia: or, Buried Alive (1978)
    • Livia: or, Buried Alive: A Novel. London: Faber, 1978.
    • Livia, or Buried Alive. The Avignon Quintet, 2. 1978. London: Faber, 1986.
29. Constance: or, Solitary Practices (1982)
    • Constance: or, Solitary Practices: A Novel. 1982. London: Faber, 1983.
    • Constance, or Solitary Practices. The Avignon Quintet, 3. 1982. London: Faber, 1986.
30. Sebastian: or, Ruling Passions (1983)
    • Sebastian: or, Ruling Passions: A Novel. London: Faber, 1983.
    • Sebastian, or Ruling Passions. The Avignon Quintet, 4. 1983. London: Faber, 1985.
31. Quinx: or, The Ripper's Tale (1985)
    • Quinx, or The Ripper’s Tale. 1985. London: Faber, 1986.
    • Quinx, or The Ripper’s Tale. The Avignon Quintet, 5. 1985. London: Faber, 1986.
32. The Avignon Quintet (1974-85)
    1. Monsieur: or, The Prince of Darkness (1974)
    2. Livia: or, Buried Alive (1978)
    3. Constance: or, Solitary Practices (1982)
    4. Sebastian: or, Ruling Passions (1983)
    5. Quinx: or, The Ripper's Tale (1985)
    • The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur: or, The Prince of Darkness; Livia: or, Buried Alive; Constance: or, Solitary Practices; Sebastian: or, Ruling Passions; Quinx: or, The Ripper's Tale. 1974, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1985. London: Faber, 1992.
33. Judith. 1962-66. Ed. Richard Pine (2012)
    • Judith: A Novel. Ed. Richard Pine. New York: Open Road Integrated Media, 2012.

Lawrence Durrell: The Alexandria Quartet (1957-60)


Humour:



Lawrence Durrell: 3 Antrobus Books (1957, 1958, 1966)



34. Esprit de Corps: Sketches from Diplomatic Life (1957)
    • Esprit de Corps: Sketches from Diplomatic Life. Illustrated by V. H. Drummond. 1957. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1963.
35. Stiff Upper Lip (1958)
    • Stiff Upper Lip. Illustrated by Nicolas Bentley. 1958. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1966.
36. Sauve Qui Peut (1966)
    • Sauve Qui Peut. Illustrated by Nicolas Bentley. 1966. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1969.
37. Antrobus Complete (1985)
    • Antrobus Complete. Drawings by Marc. 1985. London: Faber, 1986.

Lawrence Durrell: Antrobus Complete (1985)


Travel:



Lawrence Durrell: Prospero's Cell (1945)



38. Prospero's Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corcyra (1945)
    • Prospero's Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corcyra. 1945. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1973.
39. Reflections on a Marine Venus: A Companion to the Landscape of Rhodes (1953)
    • Reflections on a Marine Venus: A Companion to the Landscape of Rhodes. 1953. London: Faber, 1959.
40. Bitter Lemons (1957)
    • Bitter Lemons. 1957. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1959.
41. Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel. Ed. Alan G. Thomas (1969)
    • Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel. Ed. Alan G. Thomas. 1969. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1971.
    • Spirit of Place: Letters & Essays on Travel. Ed. Alan G. Thomas. 1969. London: Faber, 1975.
42. Blue Thirst (Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1975)
43. Sicilian Carousel (1977)
    • Sicilian Carousel. 1977. London: Faber, 1978.
44. The Greek Islands (1978)
    • The Greek Islands. 1978. Faber Paperbacks. 1980. London: Faber, 1981.
45. Caesar's Vast Ghost: Aspects of Provence (1990)
    • Caesar's Vast Ghost: Aspects of Provence. Photographs by Harry Peccinotti. 1990. Faber Paperbacks. London: Faber, 1995.
46. From the Elephant's Back: Collected Essays & Travel Writings. Ed. James Gifford (2015)
    • From the Elephant’s Back: Collected Essays & Travel Writings. Ed. James Gifford. Foreword by Peter Baldwin. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta Press, 2015.

Lawrence Durrell: Blue Thirst: Tales of Life Abroad. Two Lectures (1975)


Miscellaneous Prose:



Richard Pine, ed.: Lawrence Durrell's Endpapers and Inklings 1933-1988
Volume One: Autobiographies, Fictions, Spirit of Place (2019)



47. A Key to Modern British Poetry (1952)
48. Seignolle, Claude. The Accursed: Two Diabolical Tales. 1963. Trans. Bernard Wall. Foreword by Lawrence Durrell. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1967.
49. The Plant Magic Man (1975)
    • The Capra Chapbook Anthology: Henry Miller: On Turning Eighty (1972); Faye Kicknosway: O, You Can Walk on the Sky? Good (1972); Lawrence Durrell: The Plant Magic Man (1975); Ross Macdonald: On Crime Writing (1973) ; Ray Bradbury: Zen & the Art of Writing (1973); Victor Perera: The Loch Ness Monster Watchers (1973); Colin Wilson: Tree by Tolkien (1974); James D. Houston: Three Songs for My Father (1974); William F. Nolan: Hemingway: Last Days of the Lion (1974); Ursula Le Guin: Wild Angels (1975); Mark Vinz: Letters to the Poetry Editor (1975). Ed. Noel Young. Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1979.
50. A Smile in the Mind's Eye (1980)
    • A Smile in the Mind's Eye. 1980. A Paladin Book. Frogmore, St. Albans, Herts.: Granada Publishing Limited, 1982.
51. Lawrence Durrell's Endpapers and Inklings, 1933-1988. Volume One: Autobiographies, Fictions, Spirit of Place. Ed. Richard Pine. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.
52. Lawrence Durrell's Endpapers and Inklings, 1933-1988. Volume Two: Dramas, Screenplays, Essays, Incorrigibilia. Ed. Richard Pine. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.

Richard Pine, ed.: Lawrence Durrell's Endpapers and Inklings 1933-1988
Volume Two: Dramas, Screenplays, Essays, Incorrigibilia (2019)


Plays:



Lawrence Durrell: Sappho: A Play in Verse (1950)



53. [as 'Gaffer Peeslake']. Bromo Bombastes (1933)
54. Sappho: A Play in Verse (1950)
    • Sappho: A Play in Verse. 1950. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1967.
55. An Irish Faustus: A Morality in Nine Scenes (1963)
56. Acte (1964)

Lawrence Durrell: Acte (1964)


Translation:



Lawrence Durrell: Six Poems From the Greek of Sikelianós and Seféris (1946)



57. Six Poems From the Greek of Sikelianós and Seféris (1946)
58. George Seferis. The King of Asine and Other Poems. Trans. with Bernard Spencer & Nanos Valaoritis (1948)
59. Emmanuel Royidis. The Curious History of Pope Joan (1954)
    • Emmanuel Royidis. The Curious History of Pope Joan. 1866. Trans. Lawrence Durrell. 1954. Rev. ed. 1960. London: Sphere Books Ltd., 1971.

Emmanuel Royidis: The Curious History of Pope Joan (1960)


Edited:



Lawrence Durrell, ed.: The Henry Miller Reader (1959)


60. The Henry Miller Reader (1959)
    • The Best of Henry Miller. 1959. Mercury Books. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1964.
61. New Poems 1963: A P.E.N. Anthology of Contemporary Poetry (1963)
62. Wordsworth: Selected by Lawrence Durrell (1973)

Lawrence Durrell, ed.: Wordsworth (1973)


Letters:



Lawrence Durrell & Henry Miller: A Private Correspondence (1963)



63. Art & Outrage: A Correspondence About Henry Miller Between Alfred Perles and Lawrence Durrell (1959)
64. Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller: A Private Correspondence. Ed. George Wickes (1962)
65. Literary Lifelines: The Richard Aldington–Lawrence Durrell Correspondence (1981)
    • Literary Lifelines: The Richard Aldington–Lawrence Durrell Correspondence. Ed. Ian S. MacNiven & Harry T. Moore. London: Faber, 1981.
66. 'Letters to T. S. Eliot'. Twentieth Century Literature Vol. 33, No. 3 (1987): 348–358.
67. The Durrell-Miller Letters: 1935–80 (1988)
    • The Durrell-Miller Letters: 1935–80. Ed. Ian S. MacNiven. 1988. London: Faber / Michael Haag Ltd., 1989.
68. Letters to Jean Fanchette. Ed. Jean Fanchette (1988)

Lawrence Durrell & Richard Aldington: Literary Lifelines (1981)


Secondary:



Gerald Durrell: The Corfu Trilogy (1956-78)



69. Durrell, Gerald. The Corfu Trilogy (1956-78)
    1. My Family and Other Animals. 1956. Penguin Book 1399. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964.
    2. Birds, Beasts and Relatives. 1969. Fontana Books. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1970.
    3. The Garden of the Gods. 1978. Fontana Paperbacks. London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1980.
70. Durrell, Gerald. Fillets of Plaice. 1971. Fontana Books. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1973.
71. Durrell, Gerald. The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium. 1979. Fontana Paperbacks. London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1981.
72. Fraser, G. S. Lawrence Durrell: A Study. With a Bibliography by Alan G. Thomas. London: Faber, 1968.
73. [with Mark Alyn] The Big Supposer: A Dialogue. Illustrated by Lawrence Durrell. 1972. Trans. Francine Barker. London: Abelard-Schuman Limited, 1973.
74. Bowker, Gordon. Through the Dark Labyrinth: A Biography of Lawrence Durrell: Fully Revised Edition. 1996. Pimlico. London: Random House, 1998.
75. MacNiven, Ian S. Lawrence Durrell: A Biography. London: Faber, 1998.

The Durrells (2016-19)

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• category - English Prose (post-1900): Authors

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