Lawrence Durrell

Por su ambición y radical originalidad en el planteamiento, que en buena medida es deudor de la teoría de la relatividad de Einstein, El cuarteto de Alejandría ha ensombrecido el resto de la obra narrativa de Lawrence Durrell, y sin duda es la obra que le hizo mas conocido y le otorgo un lugar de honor en la historia de la literatura. La alternancia de perspectivas, de espacios y tiempos, el cuidado en la exposicion de los acontecimientos, en algunos casos con mas de una version, y la cuidadosa prosa que caracterizan El cuarteto de Alejandria situaron a Durrell como uno de los grandes autores del siglo, como un clasico contemporaneo con el que nacia un nuevo modo de narrar, y que por el modo desprejuiciado de tratar temas como la amistad, la infidelidad o el sexo captaron la atencion de un publico muy amplio.

En este tercer volumen del caleidoscopio narrativo que es El cuarteto de Alejandría, se nos presentan, al hilo de la historia de Nessim y Justine, los avatares y desventuras de David Mountolive, un joven prometedor diplomatico que en su primer destino importante se ve envuelto en una conspiracion politica, al tiempo que en una compleja relacion sentimental con una mujer mucho mayor que el. Por su parte, Naruz Hosnani se vera empujado a las puertas de la locura.Con la irrupcion de un diplomatico ingles y de la conspiracion, el centro de atencion gira en torno a los temas del poder politico y sus intrigas.La esplendida galeria de personajes que protagonizan ese ciclo narrativo se enriquece con nuevos matices y una mayor profundidad.Una novela rica y brillante, perfectamente acabada, y que encaja como la llave en la cerradura en El cuarteto de Alejandria.De esta obra han dicho:"Lawrence Durrell ha sido uno de los escritores del siglo (XX) capaz de enseñarnos a mirar y a sentir" JUSTO NAVARROEsta novela va precedida por Justine y Balthazar y le sigue Clea, para cerrar el cuarteto. Tambien disponible en edicion de bolsillo

In this new selection from the poetry of Lawrence Durrell (the first for thirty years), Peter Porter has drawn on the full range of the published work, from A Private Country (1943) to Vega (1973), and has provided a long overdue revaluation of Durrells poetic career. In his detailed and generous introduction, Porter makes the case for A Private Country as one of the most accomplished debut collections of the twentieth century, and traces Durrells preoccupations and poetic personality within the wider scene. The selection of poems makes its own strong case for the continuing power and originality of this attractive, metropolitan and wholly individual body of work.

The most exhilarating surge of language, style and sordid English manners [in] literature.DBC Pierre A wild, passionate, brilliantly gaudy and flamboyant extravaganza ... Richly obscene, energetically morbid, very often very funny ... Above all, stylistically and verbally inventive. Observer .Death Gregory has disappeared, abandoning his diaries in a seedy London hotel. Discovered by Lawrence Lucifer, they depict a clique of intellectuals living a life of squalid debauchery: struggling writers and artists consumed by loves, lusts, and a quest for innovation. But as they satisfy violent appetites of the flesh - and mind - their descent into darkness accelerates ... Written when he was only 24, Lawrence Durrell described his controversial third novel as a two-fisted attack on literature by an angry young man of the thirties in which he first heard the sound of my own voice. First published in Paris in 1938, it was banned in Britain for nearly four decades due to its obscenity (influenced by Durrells friend Henry Miller). Vivid, surrealist, and haunting, The Black Bookpeers into the recesses of our souls: and establishes Durrell as a trailblazing stylist.Stygian prose ... Words like stones, throwing, rockerying, mossing, churning, sharpening, bloodsucking, melting, and a hard firewater flows and rolls through them.Dylan ThomasGenuine art ... Lavishly displays Durrells gift of language ... Verbal brilliance. New York Times The first piece of work by a new English writer to give me any hope for the future of prose fiction. T.S. EliotDurrells first major work ... Its showy brilliance is certainly that of a born writer ... Savage and obscene.GuardianBrilliantly strange ... It will astonish. Independent on Sunday

Lose yourself in this classic travelogue evoking the idyllic South of France by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.Full of stories, landscapes, comedy, history, heresies, animals, food, drink, and songs of the Midi.Patrick Leigh Fermor A richly characteristic bouillabaisse by our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean, our old Prospero of the south.Richard Holmes Provence, Southern France. Celebrated writer and poet Lawrence Durrell made the Midi his home for more than thirty years: and in his final book, he shares his most evocative, dazzling memories of life as a local. A seductive blend of travelogue, poets notebook, and intimate autobiography, Durrell guides us through the rich layers of human history that lie beneath the regions legendary landscapes. From stories of magic and mythology infusing the rolling vineyards and vivid lavender fields to tales of Roman conquest, bull-worship, and courtly love beneath the wounded blue skies, Caesars Vast Ghost is a classic memoir to be treasured.Casts a spell ... Masterly.Jan MorrisA virtuoso.New York Times

Lose yourself in this classic travelogue evoking the Greek island of Rhodes after World War II by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.A magician ... Durrell enchants.The TimesA lovely book ... Makes people feel happy ... [So] pleasurable.ObserverA poets intoxication with landscape, a humanists appetite for history, and an eye for character worthy of a novelist . He excites a longing to leave for Rhodes at once.Sunday TimesWorld War II is finally over, and after four torturous years serving the Crown in Egypt, Lawerence Durrell seeks peace in the landscapes he has loved ever since his youth in Corfu: Mediterranean islands. He is posted to the Greek island of Rhodes, and from his first dip in the dazzling blue Aegean - which jolts his soul awake for the first time in years - he immerses himself in the rhythms and moods of local life, befriending eccentric villagers and quaffing ouzo as through the war was a distant dream. With his dazzling poets eye and passion for excavating ancient history, Durrell recaptures the mythic Rhodes of legend, of knights and crusades, that lies beneath its war-ravaged surface. It is a place that you will never forget. Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.Richard Holmes Masterly ... Casts a spell.Jan Morris Incandescent.Andre Aciman Invades the readers every sense ... Remarkable. Victoria Hislop Like long letters from a civilized and very funny friend - the prose as luminous as the Mediterranean air he loves.Time

Lawrence Durrells success as a novelist may have tended to obscure his achievement as a poet and in poetry. It is primarily as a lyrical poet of places that he was acknowledged to excel, but in Collected Poems it will be found that the range of feeling and ideas, of wit and experience, and also of style, is remarkable. The whole volume is charged with Durrells response to the spirit of place, which is one of this exceptional gifts as a writer. They range from affecting and beautiful love poems to skilful, succinct portraits and robust ballads . . . Rich in ideas. -- Alan RossAs a lyrical poet . . . he is the equal of Auden. -- Gavin EwartDurrells poetry compels the highest standard of judgement . . . The effect of reading him is to have ones love of poetry rekindled . . . Genuine life, genuine emotion, genuine art. -- John Wain

Lose yourself in this classic prize-winning memoir of life in 1950s Cyprus on the brink of revolution by the legendary king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.Stunning. Andre Aciman Masterly ... Casts a spell.Jan MorrisInvades the readers every sense ... Remarkable.Victoria HislopThese days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.Elif ShafakOur last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.Richard HolmesExceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.ObserverHe writes as an artist, as well as a poet . Profoundly beautiful.New StatesmanCyprus, 1953. As the island fights for independence from British colonial rule, ancient conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots trouble the glittering Mediterranean waters. Into the brewing political storm enters Lawrence Durrell, yearning for the idyllic island lifestyle of his youth in Corfu.He settles into a dilapidated villa, and with his poets eye for beauty - and passable Greek - vividly captures the moods and atmospheres of island life in a changing world. Whether collecting folklore or wild flowers, describing the brewing revolution or eccentric local characters, Durrell is a magician with words: and the result is not only a classic travel memoir, but an intimate portrait of a community lost forever.WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZEBrilliant ... Never for a moment does Durrell lose the poets touch.New York Times

Lose yourself in this dazzling travelogue of the idyllic Greek Islands by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.Incandescent.André AcimanInvades the readers every sense ... Remarkable. Victoria Hislop Nobody knows the Greek islands like Durrell.New York TimesWhite-washed houses drenched in pink bougainvillea; dazzling seascapes and rugged coastlines; colourful harbours in quaint fishing villages; shady olive and cypress groves; terraces bathed in the Aegean sun ... The Greek islands conjure up a treasure-chest of images - but nobody brings them to life as vividly as the legendary travel writer Lawrence Durrell. It was during his youth in Corfu - which his brother Gerald fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals, later filmed as The Durrells In Corfu - that his love affair with the Mediterranean began. Now, in this glorious tour of the Greek islands, he weaves evocative descriptions of these idyllic landscapes with insights into their ancient history, and shares luminous personal memories of his time in the local communities. No traveller to Greece or admirer of Durrells magic should miss it.Masterly ... Casts a spell.Jan MorrisOur last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.Richard HolmesLike long letters from a civilized and very funny friend - the prose as luminous as the Mediterranean air he loves.Time

The Avignon Quintet gathers Lawrence Durrells five kaleidoscopic, Booker Prize-nominated novels - orbiting around the South of France in World War II - into one epic modern classic, one of the greatest novels of our time (Sunday Times).Durrell is a magician. He juggles with glittering words, he conjures up "cloud capped towers, gorgeous palaces and solemn temples," he entrances, intrigues and impresses. The TimesAvignon: the kingdom of kings and Popes, capital of the historic South of France, heart of legendary Provence. The entwined lives of a group of friends - and lovers - are transformed forever by the outbreak of World War II. But their dramatic present only plunges them further into the darkness of an ancient past, as they become entangled in buried plots, gnostic cults, religious rituals, and a mysterious hunt for hidden Knights Templar treasure. From Hitlers Europe to the medieval world, French chateaus to Egyptian deserts, The Avignon Quintet is an epic symphony of ecstasy and terror, madness and memory, passion and death. Consisting of five majestic novels - Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx - it is a wild, wise masterpiece that could only be written by the literary master of his century, Lawrence Durrell.Entrancing ... Swooning ... Charged with Durrells strange magic. GuardianAn enigmatic and secretive work, a cluster of dark passages and gaudy treasure-filled caves ... Inventive gusto and fictive extravagance ... Sensational.London Review of BooksSplendid ... Reckless all-or-nothing writing. Sunday Telegraph A virtuoso, capable of extraordinary feats.New York Times Pungent and teasing ... There is some insidious power in him that keeps one reading. ObserverWhat readers are saying:As if Proust had written Raiders of the Lost Ark ...Templars, gnostics, handsome princes, asylums, madness, Freudians, southern France, Egypt, ancient tombs, castles, exotica, erotica, incest, ghosts, gypsies, ascetics, spies, Nazis, secret societies, bordellos, feasts, Nubian lesbians, assassins disguised as nuns, literary doppelgangers, convents, hidden treasure, suicide, and art.Mystery, love, incest, war, espionage, gypsies, mysticism, secret rituals: a masterful writer.Magnificent ... An incredible level of writing that should be experienced by everyone who loves modern literature.A masterpiece ... Unlike anything Ive ever read.The master at his peak.The writing is spectacular, unlike anything today.Deeply complex, very clever use of language and gripping. Highly recommended.Hairs suddenly rise on the back of the neck ... Read with a glass of wine.

A magician.The TimesA philosophical play of ideas, exploring loss, war, and incest in Ancient Greece, by the celebrated author of The Alexandria Quartet. Lesbos, Ancient Greece. Lawrence Durrells intricate play follows vivid characters who represent different attitudes towards the role of the individual in the world, exploring how their lofty ideals are transformed when they become victims of unforeseeable real-life circumstances. Eloquent, tragic, poetic, Durrells parable is a powerful study of idealism in an imperfect universe, drawing vibrant parallels between the classical world and our modern existence.

Lose yourself in the thrilling political intrigue and tangled love affairs of wartime Egypt in Durrells epic modern classicA master at creating and handling tension ... I was fascinated from the start. Wilbur SmithDavid Mountolive, a young English diplomat, has been obsessed with Egypt ever since a youthful love affair. Returning to Alexandria as British Ambassador just before World War Two, he unravels an intricate political and religious conspiracy - one that connects a web of wildly different characters, including an exiled schoolteacher and glamorous Egyptian couple. Mountolive gradually exposes the sinister underbelly of these tangled relationships, their deceptions and betrayals mirroring the explosive turmoil of the modern Middle East - and the result is Durrells most cinematic masterpiece. Astonishing ... A work of splendid craft and troubling veracity.New York Times Book ReviewA masterpiece ... Dont be fooled by the richness of the prose, the depth of the passions ... Wicked and funny.GuardianDazzlingly exuberant in style and vision, reckless in ambition, wonderfully prolific in invention ... Superb.ObserverVOLUME THREE OF LAWRENCE DURRELLS ALEXANDRIA QUARTET

Antrobus , el protagonista de estos veinte relatos, es un rancio personaje de la vieja escuela, toda una institución dentro del Foreing Office, que tan brillante e irónicamente ha sabido retratar Lawrence Durrell. Anclado en el pasado, este anticuado diplomatico, de bombin y paraguas negro, ha estado destinado, durante los pasados treinta años, en Vulgaria [sic] y otros lugares situados detras del Telon de Acero. Aunque no podamos decir que todo sea culpa del pobre Antrobus, lo cierto es que el, al igual que todo el cuerpo diplomatico, anda siempre metido en dificultades. Agregados militares, ministros plenipotenciarios, attaches de prensa y toda la pintoresca fauna propia de las embajadas desfila por las paginas de este libro complicando y liando aun mas las cosas. Y si finalmente consiguen salir airosos, o casi, no cabe la menor duda de que se debe a, como dice nuestro protagonista, una gran firmeza ante la adversidad.

Beautiful, aristocratic, an adored wife and young mother. Lady Windermere is "a fascinating Puritan" whose severe moral code leads her to the brink of social suicide. The only one who can save her is the mysterious Mrs Erlynne whose scandalous relationship with Lord Windermere has prompted her ladyship's fatal impulse. And Mrs Erlynne has a secret - a secret Lady Windermere must never know if she is to retain her peace of mind.

Brillante apertura del Cuarteto de Alejandría, la celebérrima tetralogía de Durrell. Aquí asistimos a la precisa belleza con que Darley, el narrador, refiere la historia de su pasión hacia la enigmática Justine, centro de unos amores cruzados. El desenlace, con una misteriosa muerte, es en realidad un final abierto que solo cobra todo su sentido tras la lectura del resto del Cuarteto