Who’s Lawrence Durrell?

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Lawrence Durrell is a British novelist, poet, journalist and travel writer who was born in Jalandhar, India in 1912. Although British by nationality, Lawrence Durrell preferred to be thought of as cosmopolitan, as he hated Britain and traveled all over the world during his course of his life, which ended at his home in France in 1990. Lawrence Durrell is probably best known for his Alexandria Quartet, about life in Egypt before World War II, although it has a very large and accomplished body of work.

Lawrence Durrell’s parents were both British born in India and they sent Durrell to England at the age of 11 to further his education, a very common practice at that time. Lawrence Durrell came to detest Britain very much, as he had been sent away from the home and family he had always known, and fled as quickly as possible. Lawrence Durrell began writing poetry at age 15, publishing Quaint Fragment at age 19. He failed his college entrance exams around the same time and decided not to pursue higher education.

In 1935 Durrell married Nancy Isobel Myers and shortly thereafter the family moved to the island of Corfu, Greece. Pied Piper of Lovers, Durrell’s first novel, was published around the same time. Durrell’s life in Greece was filled with an ever-moving group of artists and writers, who took the opportunity to visit Greece and escape the looming war in Europe.

Lawrence Durrell also began a lifelong friendship with Henry Miller while living in Greece, when he wrote to Miller expressing admiration for Tropic of Cancer. Both Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell wrote bold books for their time, challenging readers to handle mature content and difficult ideas. In 1937, the men met in France, where Miller was living with Anais Nin, and founded the Villa Seurat series to publish their work, which was not accepted by other publishers.

Returning to Corfu, Lawrence Durrell remained there for the duration of the war while his family returned to England. He fled to Egypt after the fall of Greece. Lui wrote passionately about his time in Greece in Prospero’s Cell (1945) and worked in a variety of journalistic positions during the war to support himself.

In Alexandria, Durrell met his next wife, Yvette Cohen, whom he married in 1947. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed to the British Council Institute in Cordoba, Argentina, where he worked and taught for the next 18 months. Upon his return, he was sent to Belgrade for journalistic work, where he lived until 1952. His time in Belgrade was the basis for White Eagles over Serbia (1957), a spy thriller in the vein of John Le Carre .
In 1952, Lawrence Durrell moved to Crete, where he taught and wrote Bitter Lemons (1957). While living in Crete, he also published Justine (1957), the first book of the Alexandria Quartet. Balthazar, the second book, was published in 1958, and the third, Mountolive, followed in 1959. The quartet’s fourth book, Clea, was published in 1960.

The Alexandria Quartet is somewhat experimental, with the story told from three different points of view in the first three books. Only in Clea is the story resolved. The quartet was well received and remains Durrell’s most printed and most discussed work.
In 1968, Lawrence Durrell settled in Sommieres, France where he lived his life. During his time in France, he wrote The Avignon Quartet, which never achieved the literary stardom that The Alexandria Quartet did. He has also written a number of travel books, including Blue Thirst (1975) and Caesar’s Vast Ghost (1990).

Lawrence Durrell is most famous for his novels, most notably The Alexandria Quartet, but he also wrote a substantial amount of poetry, later published as a complete volume spanning from 1931 to 1974. In addition, he was a playwright, author of Sappho ( 1950), An Irish Faustus: A Play in Nine Scenes (1963) and Acte (1964). Several collections of his letters and essays have also been printed. `

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