Durrell, << DOOR uhl, >> Lawrence (1912-1990), was a British novelist, travel writer, and poet. He became best known for his series of four novels called The Alexandria Quartet. The Quartet consists of Justine (1957), Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1959), and Clea (1960). The novels are noted for their ornate language, unusual characters, and vivid descriptions of the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Alexandria, Egypt, during the late 1930’s. Durrell described a series of love affairs as viewed by the leading characters with different perspectives on what makes up the truth of their experience. Durrell championed all forms of love in the Quartet, but saw its expressions as leading to tragedy and despair.
Durrell was born on Feb. 27, 1912, in Darjiling, India. The conservationist Gerald Durrell was his brother. Lawrence Durrell lived most of his life in the eastern Mediterranean. His first novel, The Black Book (1938), reveals the influence of his close friend, the American novelist Henry Miller. Durrell described life on the islands in and near Greece in Prospero’s Cell (1945), Reflections on a Marine Venus (1953), Bitter Lemons (1957), and The Greek Islands (1978). He narrated a tour through the island of Sicily in Sicilian Carousel (1977). Durrell’s poetry appears in Collected Poems, 1931-1974 (1980). He died on Nov. 7, 1990.
