Indeed, all the valuable information brought back year by year by our literary wanderers, and which peters away in memorable conversations or private letters … it would all be gathered there within the pages of one gigantic tome which would be as ubiquitously available as a telephone directory. Here one would be able to draw courage and instruction from travellers as various as Freya Stark, Sir Harry Luke, and Gavin Maxwell.…
But as I write I realize that the project, however magnificent, is impossible of realization. Where is the publisher with enough vision and money to embark upon it? Where is the editor who could harness such a team of brilliant dissimilars and prevent his contributors from coming to blows over the relative merits of Greece, Italy, or Syria? All might end in confusion and acrimony and letters to The Times.
Finally, where is the traveller to merit such a project? It is possible, too, that the true traveller (who is not a tourist) might scorn such a work, and with justice? For he will have realized that part of the adventure of travel resides in those unexpected disappointments and hardships such a work would be helping him to avoid. Let the tourist be cushioned against misadventure; but your true traveller will not feel that he has had his money’s worth unless he brings back a few scars like that hole in his trousers which comes from striking Italian matches towards instead of away from oneself. No, the mishaps and disappointments only lend relief to the splendours of the voyage. Things should be left as they are, despite those sad autumn postcards.
Index
A
Acre, 1965 191
Aix-en-Provence 192, 210, 211, 516
Aldington, Richard 1, 4, 40, 49, 192–193, 201–203, 215, 217
Alexandria 1, 75, 92, 93, 95, 98, 101, 161, 164, 169, 179, 187, 191, 313, 557, 631
Allen, J. A. 17
Anand, Mulk Raj 7
An Irish Faustus 191
Argentina 131–133, 137, 146, 211, 238
Asylum in the Snow, 1946 104, 363, 383
Athenaios 228, 430, 436–450
Athens 48, 53, 64–65, 65, 73–76, 79–84, 87, 113, 119–124, 132, 163, 183, 221, 225–227, 232, 235, 327, 347, 350, 412, 435, 441, 450, 560, 630, 632
Auden, W. H. 14, 77, 149
Avignon 204, 214, 493–496, 501–521, 526, 532–544
B
Balthazar 191, 214, 216
Beccafico, 1963 5, 193, 423
Belgrade 124–128, 139–141, 143, 145, 150–157, 160–163, 441, 587
Bellapaix 163, 166, 168, 170, 173–178, 183–184
Bitter Lemons, 1957 187–188
Black Book, The 20, 26–17, 49–50, 55, 61, 66, 212
Black Honey, (unpublished play by Durrell) 117
Blixen, Baroness (Isak Dinesen) 137
Book of the Dead, The 114
Bournemouth 8, 17, 19, 24, 28, 60, 123–124, 126, 165, 173, 188, 195, 620, 631
Brillat-Savarin 486, 602
Brindisi 23, 30, 284
Brown, Curtis 45
Buenos Ayres 129, 131–132, 135
Bull, Peter 34, 437
Burrows, Ines, Lady 172, 177
Burrows, Sir Bernard 177
C
Cairo, Egypt 16, 75, 91–96, 99, 102, 111, 140, 171, 177, 277, 441
Campbell, Roy 207
Cavafy, C. P. 95, 414
Cejalû, 1947 (The Dark Labyrinth) 105, 137, 161
Chalcidice 127, 157
Cheval, Le Facteur (builder of the “Postman’s Palace”) 458–462, 467, 469–471, 478
Christchurch Priory 20
Cities, Plains and People, 1946 105
Claude (née Claude-Marie Vincendon, Durrell’s third wife) 187–190, 193–195, 199, 203–204, 207–210, 217–218, 221, 224, 228, 566
Clea 191, 218, 220, 224
Cleopatra (film script for Elizabeth Taylor) 219, 225
Climax in Crete (Stephanides, Theodore, 1946) 74
Colossus of Maroussi, The (Miller, Henry, 1941) 74, 233
Commin, H. G. (bookshop in Bournemouth) 18
Condrieu 490–491
Connolly, Cyril 27
Cooke, Dorian 100, 143
Cordoba, Argentina 124, 130–131, 135
Corfu 1, 3, 17, 23–26, 28–30, 32–34, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48–49, 52–53, 56, 58–59, 62, 65, 74, 79–81, 86, 98, 103, 194, 221, 227, 275, 277–278, 347, 363, 405, 427–428, 433–435, 438, 440–441, 445, 632
Cyprus 1–2, 65, 85–86, 128, 156, 160–161, 163–185, 187–188, 193, 195–196, 199, 214, 218, 220–222, 275, 415, 423–424, 426, 632
D
Darjeeling 5–6
Davies, William Henry 38
Dawkins, Professor R. M. 35
De Guylder, Father Joseph (schoolmaster, Darjeeling) 6
Delphi 234, 407–412
Douglas, Keith 92
Douglas, Norman 20, 26, 96, 149, 192, 216, 232, 470
Down the Styx, 1964 5, 193, 619
Durrell, Gerald (brother) 25, 105, 123, 183
Durrell, Lawrence Samuel (father) 5–6
Durrell, Leslie (brother) 3, 6, 18, 35, 46–47, 56–57, 65, 80
Durrell, Louisa (mother) 5, 8, 29, 50, 163, 172, 178
Durrell, Margaret (sister) 19, 53, 188, 199, 228
Durrell, Penelope Berengaria (Pinkie) (daughter) 75, 88–89, 93, 126, 193, 552
Durrell, Sappho Jane (daughter) 163, 193
Dutton, E. P. & Co. Inc. 214–215
E
E Editions Poetry London 105
Eliot, T. S. 2, 4, 9, 14, 27, 76, 85, 89, 104–105, 113, 116, 119, 164, 178
Elizabethan writers, Durrell plans book on 28, 134, 171, 222
Esprit de Corps, 1957 125, 188, 211
Evans, Patrick 54–55 Eve (née Cohen, Durrell’s second wife) 93, 103, 107, 109, 123, 126–127, 132, 141, 147, 149–151, 163–164, 184
F
Faber and Faber Ltd. 283
Fermor, Patrick Leigh 92, 95, 163, 165, 233, 633
Fielding, Xan 93, 95, 145
Fraser, G. S. 92, 277
G
Gascogne, David 210
Gascony 474, 581–589, 597–598, 600, 602
Gawsworth, John 4–7, 48, 70
Gould, Diana (now Menuhin) 4, 93, 101, 111
Grenoble 565–570, 574, 578–580
Gründgens, Gustaf 191
H
Hadkinson, Mary 4, 131, 135, 137
Harrison, Austen 179–180, 183, 226
Hauterives 458, 464, 468, 470, 473
Hudson, Barclay 39
Hughes, Prudence (aunt, Dedicatee of Down the Styx) 619, 621–622, 624–626
I
Irish Faustus, An 191
Ischia 104, 126, 145–146, 149, 554, 632
Israel 225–226
J
Jalunda (United Provinces, India, Durrell’s birthplace) 5
Justine, 1957 128, 164, 166, 184, 188, 207, 210–211, 213–214, 216, 219–220, 223, 284
K
Kahane, Jack (publisher of The Black Book) 27
Kalamata 73, 75, 87–88
Katsimbalis, George 73
Key to Modern Poetry, 1952 124–125
Kinross, Lord (Patrick Balfour) 93, 163, 165, 181
Kurseong 5, 129, 243, 250, 252
L
Lady Chatterley’s Lover 208
Lawrence, D. H. 232, 238
Lawrence, T. E. 192, 206
Legrand, Louis 189–190
Lewis, Wyndham 4, 9
London 8, 12–13, 25, 67–68, 92, 95, 100, 105, 119, 131, 145, 151, 168, 183, 197, 211, 218, 236, 243, 266, 268, 415, 441, 495, 501, 515, 545, 629
Luke, Sir Harry 163, 165, 176, 180–181, 183, 633
Lyons 483–484, 486–492, 516, 573, 582, 597
M
Macaulay, Rose 2, 163, 171
Machen, Arthur 13
Macrae, Elliott B. 213
Mani (Fermor, Patrick Leigh) 233
Mazet Michel 190
Menuhin, Diana 93, 194, 225
Midi, the 1, 187, 188, 191, 483, 489–490, 502, 512, 514, 544, 5
58, 585, 589, 594, 597
Miller, Henry 27, 37, 39, 47, 70, 74, 114, 116, 128, 132, 134, 164, 172, 192, 194, 216, 222–223, 313, 364, 411
Millington-Drake, Marie 168, 170, 178
Mills, Ray 104
Mistral, Frederic 202, 491, 498, 514, 524, 526, 536
Montevideo 128
Morgan, Charles 114
Mountolive 191, 211, 216, 222
Mussolini, Benito 445
Mycenae 76, 77, 409, 553
My Family and Other Animals (Durrell, Gerald, 1956) 25, 223
N
Nancy (née Myers, Durrell’s first wife) 7, 17–19, 23–25, 28–29, 37, 71, 73–76, 82, 85, 93, 105
Nemea 76, 78
Niko 228, 430, 440–451
Nîmes 189, 190, 194, 197, 199, 200, 204, 214, 216, 221–222, 224, 226, 493, 508, 529, 531
Nin, Anaïs 27, 158, 383
O
On Seeming to Presume, 1948 119, 131
P
Panic Spring, 1937 16, 283
Paris 1, 27, 37, 40, 65, 95–96, 121, 189, 195, 210, 213, 222–225, 233, 407, 441, 503, 512, 515–516, 539, 544, 551, 555, 568–569, 579, 603, 606, 607, 611, 613–614, 616, 619
Parthenon, The 104
Perlès, Alfred 4–5, 221
Personal Landscape (published in Alexandria 1942 93, 100, 105
Pied Piper of Lovers, 1935 17, 23, 25, 243, 284
Pont du Gard 507–508
Pope Joan, 1954 176
Porteus, Hugh Gordon 4
Potocki of Montalk, Cedric 7
Pound, Ezra 38
Powell, Lawrence Clark 4–5, 132, 277
Prospero’s Cell, 1945 25, 105, 126
Provence 165, 203, 220, 434, 457, 483, 491, 493, 497, 510, 513 514, 518, 523–544, 547, 555, 565–566, 593
Prurient Duck (lost story by Durrell) 54
R
Ranage, Marcel 189
Rawlings, Margaret 153, 191
Read, Herbert 27
Redonda 15–16
Redonda, King of. See Gawsworth, John
Reflections on a Marine Venus, 1953 104–105, 155
Rhodes 1, 103–121, 132–133, 136, 138, 140, 151, 153, 156, 168, 171, 199, 111, 363, 451, 546, 632
Rhône, river 464, 466, 481–499, 507, 509, 515, 518, 526–527, 529, 533, 547, 565
Ridler, Anne 4, 67, 76, 79, 84, 87–88, 99, 105, 115–116, 118, 128–130, 141, 143, 146, 151, 154–155
Rio de Janeiro 130
Rodda, Patricia 4, 5, 210
S
Sappho, 1950 125, 143, 153–155, 191, 552
Sauve Qui Peut, 1966 125
Seferiades, George 73, 85
Shaftesbury 16, 187, 196
Shakespeare, William 29, 67–68, 70, 236, 412, 556, 562
Shiel.M.P. 15
Smart, Lady (Amy Nimr) 4, 94–95
Smart, Sir Walter 4, 91, 109, 192, 199
Sommières 189–190, 192, 194–195, 197–200, 202–206, 208, 210, 213–215, 219
Spencer, Bernard 92, 100, 177
Spender, Stephen 14
Stark, Freya 4, 163, 165, 171, 175–177, 179, 181, 183, 195–196, 226, 237, 633
Stendhal (Marie Henri Beyle) 223, 476, 556–558, 565, 568, 573, 576–580
Stephanides, Dr. Theodore 3, 168
Stiff Upper Lip, 1958 125
Stratford-on-Avon 67, 70
Summers, Romilly 104, 109, 111–112
Sykes, Gerald 4, 213
T
Tain l’Hermitage 474–475
Tambimuttu 105
Temple, EJ. 5, 193, 619
Ten Poems 17
Thomas, Alan G. 30, 32–33, 36, 39, 42, 45, 49, 52, 53, 56, 59, 62, 65, 153, 157, 161, 166–167, 170, 172–173, 176, 184, 202, 206, 208, 218–219, 222, 224, 227
Thomas, Ella Mary 66, 166, 176, 194, 197, 202, 224
Tito, Marshal 126–128, 151, 160
Transition 17
Tropic of Cancer (Miller, Henry, 1934) 37, 39, 59
W
White Eagles Over Serbia, 1957 125, 188
Wilkinson, George 4–5, 17, 23, 28–29, 34–35, 82
Wilkinson, Pamela 83
Williams, Gwyn 4, 92, 101, 106–107, 121
Y
Yugoslavia 1, 123–127, 139, 162, 632
Z
Zarian 60, 126, 145–147, 169, 171
Zero 1946 104, 363–383
A Biography of Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990) was a novelist, poet, and travel writer best known for the Alexandria Quartet, his acclaimed series of four novels set before and during World War II in Alexandria, Egypt. Durrell’s work was widely praised, with his Quartet winning the greatest accolades for its rich style and bold use of multiple perspectives. Upon the Quartet’s completion, Life called it “the most discussed and widely admired serious fiction of our time.”
Born in Jalandhar, British India, in 1912 to Indian-born British colonials, Durrell was an avid and dedicated writer from an early age. He studied in Darjeeling before his parents sent him to England at the age of eleven for his formal education. When he failed to pass his entrance examinations at Cambridge University, Durrell committed himself to becoming an established writer. He published his first book of poetry in 1931 when he was just nineteen years old, and later worked as a jazz pianist to help fund his passion for writing.
Determined to escape England, which he found dreary, Durrell convinced his widowed mother, siblings, and first wife, Nancy Isobel Myers, to move to the Greek island of Corfu in 1935. The island lifestyle reminded him of the India of his childhood. That same year, Durrell published his first novel, Pied Piper of Lovers. He also read Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and, impressed by the notorious novel, he wrote an admiring letter to Miller. Miller responded in kind, and their correspondence and friendship would continue for forty-five years. Miller’s advice and work heavily influenced Durrell’s provocative third novel, The Black Book (1938), which was published in Paris. Though it was Durrell’s first book of note, The Black Book was considered mildly pornographic and thus didn’t appear in print in Britain until 1973.
In 1940, Durrell and his wife had a daughter, Penelope Berengaria. The following year, as World War II escalated and Greece fell to the Nazis, Durrell and his family left Corfu for work in Athens, Kalamata (also in Greece), then Alexandria, Egypt. His relationship with Nancy was strained by the time they reached Egypt, and they separated in 1942. During the war, Durrell served as a press attaché to the British Embassy. He also wrote Prospero’s Cell, a guide to Corfu, while living in Egypt in 1945.
Durrell met Yvette Cohen in Alexandria, and the couple married in 1947. They had a daughter, Sappho Jane, in 1951, and separated in 1955. Durrell published White Eagles Over Serbia in 1957, alongside the celebrated memoir Bitter Lemons of Cyprus (1957), which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and Justine (1957), the first novel of the Alexandria Quartet Capitalizing on the overwhelming success of Justine, Durrell went on to publish the next three novels in the series—Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1958), and Clea (1960)—in quick succession. Upon the series’ completion, poet Kenneth Rexroth hailed it as “a tour de force of multiple-aspect narrative.”
Durrell married again in 1961 to Claude-Marie Vincendon, who died of cancer in 1967. His fourth and final marriage was in 1973 to Ghislaine de Boysson, which ended in divorce in 1979.
After a life spent in varied locales, Durrell settled in Sommières, France, where he wrote the Revolt of Aphrodite series as well as the Avignon Quintet. The first book in the Quintet, Monsieur (1974), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize while Constance (1982), the third novel, was nominated for the Booker Prize.
Durrell died in 1990 at his home in Sommières.
This photograph of Lawrence Durrell aboard his boat, the Van Norden, is taken from a negative discovered among his papers. The vessel is named after a character in Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. (Photograph held in the British Library’s modern manuscripts collection.)
One of Nancy Durrell�
�s photographs from the 1930s. Pictured here is the Caique, which they used to travel around the waters of Corfu. (Photo courtesy of Joanna Hodgkin, property of the Gerald Durrell Estate.)
This photograph of Nancy and Lawrence Durrell was likely taken in Delphi, Greece, in late 1939. (Photo courtesy of Joanna Hodgkin and the Gerald Durrell Estate.)
A 1942 photograph of Lawrence Durrell with his wife, Nancy, and their daughter, Penelope, taken in Cairo. (Photo courtesy of Joanna Hodgkin.)
This manuscript notebook contains one of two drafts of Justine acquired by the British Library as part of Lawrence Durrell’s large archive in 1995. (Notebook held in the British Library’s modern manuscripts collection.)
A page from Durrell’s notebooks, or, as he called them, the “quarry.” This page introduced his notes on the “colour and narrative” of scenes in Justine. (Photo courtesy of the Lawrence Durrell Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.)
“As well as serving delicious food in an idyllic setting, the Taverna Nikolas at Agni has strong links with the Durrell story in Corfu,” says Joanna Hodgkin of this 2012 photo. Durrell lived in the neighboring town of Kalami, where his famous White House sits right above the shoreline. (Photo courtesy of Joanna Hodgkin.)
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copyright © 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969 by Lawrence Durrell
cover design by Jason Gabbert
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Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel Page 49