Some two hundred years before Lawrence Durrell offered readers a blank page to represent silence – perhaps inviting us to interpret that of Clea – Lawrence Sterne, in “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman”, invited us to paint on his a likeness of a chosen beautiful mistress.
Durrell’s page is followed by a list of Workpoints as perhaps for a notebook, which may explain my ambivalence about “Justine”, the first of his acclaimed Alexandria Quartet, to which I have returned after perhaps 40 years of forgetfulness.
The writer’s cornucopia of abundantly luscious prose exploring the nature of love and lust in the context of a portrait of a suffocating city is indeed engaging. The mistresses described by the anonymous narrator are as beautiful as those suggested by Sterne. His descriptions of the nature of Alexandria shortly before World War II are packed in verbally delightful, yet economical, sentences.
My problem is that for me the work itself reads like a notebook in which I seek to follow a narrative of the interwoven lives of a variety of very passionate protagonists unable ultimately to commit, over periods of time to those they truly love, and consequently seem doomed to remain unsatisfied. Durrell has maybe captured the experience of many of us.
I am pleased that I was prompted to revisit this work by https://shoreacres.wordpress.com/2023/01/30/the-threshold-of-imagination/
Linda is an intelligent, resourceful, respected blogger. She has put much more layers of thought into her review highlighted above than I have managed in mine, no doubt the result of her repeated returns to it. In the interests of reasonable balance I would recommend reading what she has to say.
Very interesting: I didn’t know that tetralogy of novels❣️
Thanks very much, Luisa
You’re more than welcome, dear Derrick ????????
When I saw the title, I thought that perhaps you were reviewing De Sade’s “Justine”; I was surprised, to say the least. Now you have made me curious about this author and his “luscious prose.”
Thank you so much, Dolly. Do have a look at Linda’s post.
I have, thank you.
I can remember, on the recommendation of a friend, buying “Tristram Shandy” many, many years ago, but I’m afraid I could not manage to like it, try as I might.
I have alwayswondered why he thought it was “the greatest novel ever written” but I could ot manage more than thirty pages!
Thank you very much, John
I remember trying to read Justine a couple times when I was a teen and found it in our bookcase, but I didn’t get very far. 🙂
Thank you very much, Merril
Hi Derrick, an intriguing review. I’ve not read this book, but will seek it out on Amazon.
Thank you very much, Robbie.
I agree, Derrick. Linda is as nice a person as she is intelligent.
Quite so, GP. Thanks very much
I’ve not read this book, but I always enjoy reading your reviews of books.
Thanks for the link…I will go and read there.
(((HUGS))) ❤️
Thank you very much, Carolyn X
A page indicating silence seems both apt and gimmicky. Still, Durrell is on my TBR list.
Thanks very much, Laurie
I have the Alexandra Quartet. I read Justine and possibly the second one before getting bored with it. (If I remember correctly, I was barefy out of high school when I read it.)
Thank you very much, Liz
You’re welcome, Derrick.
Lovely intro.
Thank you very much, Pat
A reference from you is never to be ignored, so I landed on Linda’s blog and was instantaneously captured by her account of the story of the story. Let me tell you, it was a refreshingly beautiful sojourn. It has kept me thinking….
I knew you would like her post, Uma. Thank you very much.
How kind of you to mention my post, Derrick! It’s always interesting to see how different people respond to the same bit of literature, the same painting, and so on. It’s also true that landing on a book at just the right time can make a difference. When I re-read the Quartet, as I often do, it evokes my whole history with the books, as well as with the words that Durrell has chosen. One thing’s for certain; the set is ready for another read — not only for the story itself, but also for the notes I’ve left in the margins over the years!
Yours was a very good review, Linda. It has to be read to balance my ambivalence. I still have Clea. Thank you very much
I enjoyed your review as well, Derrick.
Thank you, too, Lavinia
You wrote a beautiful review, Linda. Durrell is on my reading list, Linda, whenever I get get back to my reading list. 🙂
Sounds like an interesting reading!
Thank you very much, Ribana