Justine: Lawrence Durrell

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Las otras razones, las que sí vienen al caso, tienen todas que ver con el calor que emana de la novela, por la tristeza en que se trasmuta la pasión de sus personajes por causa de una vida incapaz de darles todo lo que de ella ambicionan. Personas que se dejan llevar por el deseo que, pasado el tiempo –la novela es un precioso ejercicio de nostalgia– lo revisten con el influjo del ambiente de pereza y decadencia que envuelve a la ciudad de Alejandría, una ciudad donde la sensualidad de un “paso lento de sandalias blancas” se mezcla con la tragedia de las elecciones imposibles, con la impotencia de no ser "ni bastante fuertes ni bastante malos para elegir", donde la sensualidad y el ascetismo se reconcilian de tal manera que hace de sus habitantes personas histéricas y extremistas pero también amantes incomparables. The main problem is that while jumping around in time, Durell gives few clues as to what’s happening when. Since he also fails to introduce the characters in any kind of linear sense, the sequence is intensely baffling. To give him credit, he starts at the end, which at least allows us to grasp the names of the key characters, and parts of their relationships. But the effect of the short sequences is very much like a puzzle, starting with a great mess of pieces and only gradually getting a feel for the outlines. I can only hope that now that I know those outlines, the three remaining books will be more palatable. Does Durrell's "prism-sightedness" promise "a multi-dimensional effect in character"? What better reason can there be to read on, but to find out!

Alexandre-Garner, Corinne, ed. Lawrence Durrell: Actes Du Colloque Pour L'Inauguration De La Bibliothèque Durrell. Confluences 15. Nanterre: Université Paris-X, 1998. On 22 January 1935, Durrell married art student Nancy Isobel Myers (1912–1983), with whom he briefly ran a photographic studio in London. [6] It was the first of his four marriages. [7] Durrell was always unhappy in England, and in March of that year he persuaded his new wife, and his mother and younger siblings, to move to the Greek island of Corfu. There they could live more economically and escape both the English weather, and what Durrell considered the stultifying English culture, which he described as "the English death". [8] Another problem is Durrell’s verbiage. Apparently he was lauded for his descriptions, but I found the prose more purple and perfervid than rich and beautiful. There are only so many dying trees ‘burnt to the color of coffee’ one can take, and here, they’re layered on each other relentlessly. The language is dense, and not particularly effective. That and there are endless mentions of ‘the old poet’, who is only identified in what appear to be editorial footnotes. One of the book’s reputed draws is the flavor of Alexandria, but all I came away with was the feeling of what one expatriate’s time in the city was like. Collectively, they constitute a diversity of perspectives on the nature of time, space, experience, imagination and love that rival Proust.Morrison, Ray. A Smile in His Mind's Eye: A Study of the Early Works of Lawrence Durrell. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2005.

Born in India to British colonial parents, he was sent to England at the age of eleven for his education. He did not like formal education, but started writing poetry at age 15. His first book was published in 1935, when he was 23. In March 1935 he and his mother and younger siblings moved to the island of Corfu. Durrell spent many years thereafter living around the world. Many at least practice some one of the major religions of the region, but none seem very religious in the more traditional senses of that notion.

For much of the novel I was both disgusted with the complicated language and the ridiculous philosophizing. Then in the last part I all of a sudden felt a shift from the egotistical self-centered choices to what are the consequences of this behavior. The focus became relationships and how people interact and how we hurt each other and how what we do is affected by our past experiences. Adultery is going to affect not only the two who are cheating but the other partners and related friends. There are secrets, there are lies and none are left unscathed. What starts as egotistical flirtation turns into a huge deception having tremendous repercussions. Each will draw different interpretations of what really happened. Is there one truth? The majority of the book follows people going after their own personal goals, the end follows what then happened, what were the consequences of these choices. It was this that interested me. The next novel will give another interpretation of the given facts. I NEED to know more. I thought I would not continue, but really I have to at this point. There is no stopping now. “Balthazar” is my next read! Andrewski, Gene; Mitchell, Julian (1960). "Lawrence Durrell, The Art of Fiction No. 23". The Paris Review (Autumn–Winter 1959–1960). Archived from the original on 4 January 2013 . Retrieved 30 October 2010. I struggled with this book. I hated it until the very end of Part Three, of which there are a total of four. My opinion changed dramatically at that point. It went from a one star to a four star book. I know what changed and I know what didn’t change. I will try and explain so you can decide whether this is a book for you, but this is just my personal reaction to the book. Each one of us approaches a book with different baggage.