The Alexandria Quartet (The Alexandria Quartet #1-4)

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Lawrence Durrell s series of four novels set in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1940s The lush and sensuous series consists of Justine 1957 Balthazar 1958 Mountolive 1958 Clea 1960 Justine, Balthazar and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II In Clea, the story continues into the years during the war One L.G Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves and those he knows In Justine, Darley attempts to recover from and put into perspective his recently ended affair with a woman Balthazar reinterprets the romantic perspective he placed on the affair and its aftermath in Justine, in philosophical and intellectual termsMountolive tells a story minus interpretation, and Clea reveals Darley s healing, and coming to love another woman. Read The Alexandria Quartet (The Alexandria Quartet #1-4) By Lawrence Durrell – kino-fada.fr In terms of literary achievment, I have never ever ever read any book or, technically, four books that surpass The Alexandria Quartet These are my favorite books Period.Durrell was a master of atmosphere and voice, and if you can make it through Justine , narrated by the story s centerpiece, the exiled Irish school teacher, Darley, you will be greatly rewarded Darley speaks in long winded though often lovely prose and is clearly self absorbed and emotionally near sighted But it s fascin In terms of literary achievment, I have never ever ever read any book or, technically, four books that surpass The Alexandria Quartet These are my favorite books Period.Durrell was a master of atmosphere and voice, and if you can make it through Justine , narrated by the story s cent...I supposethat if you wished somehow to incorporate all I am telling you into your own Justine manuscript now, that you would find yourself with a curious sort of book the story would be told, so to speak, in layersa series of novels with sliding panels Balthazar, p 338JustineA rhythmic, rolling book, without too much plot to speak of However as a novel it works brilliantly as a sort of literary expose about human relationships and love If there is one thing you can take away fromI supposethat if you wished somehow to incorporate all I am telling you into your own Justine manuscript now, that you would find yourself with a curious sort of book the story would be told, so to speak, in layersa series of novels with sliding panels Balthazar, p 338JustineA rhythmic, rolling book, without too much plot to speak of However as a novel it works brilliantly as a sort of literary expose about human relationships and love If there is one thing you can take away from reading this it is the sensuous, evocative and delectable language It is a treat for the literary senses One of the criticisms of modern books like A Game of Thrones, Kraken and Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West is that collectively they try too hard to be gritty, atmospheric or sexy Justine, in contrast, is a prime example of how to write an atmospheric novel with an underlying exploration of sexuality without appearing to physically strain words through a blender The language is organic, n...Lawrence Durrell, to me, has to be the most celebrated English novelist of the 20th century I ve read all of his books but The Alexandria Quartet is unquestionably his most brilliant work in the period just before the Second World War in Alexandria.It was originally four novels Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea and they have been combined into this work I read this book about twenty years ago and I look at it from time to time just to read the exquisite style I still love it I think Lawrence Durrell, to me, has to be the most celebrated English novelist of the 20th century I ve read all of his books but The Alexandria Quartet is unquestionably his most brilliant work in the period just before the Second World War in Alexandria.It was originally four novels Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea and they have been combined into this work I read this book about t... Zeus gets Hera on her backBut finds that she has lost the knack.Extenuated by excessesShe is unable, she confesses.Nothing daunted Zeus, who wise isTries a dozen good disguises.Eagle, ram, and bull and bearQuickly answer Hera s prayer.One knows a God should be prolix,But think of all those differentThe recent violence against Coptics in Egypt, claimed by many to be the worst the country has se...Looking over the Goodreads reviews of this tetralogy, I find almost everyone gave it either five stars with the note that it s the greatest work they have ever read and that it changed their lives, to one or two stars marked by utter impatience I can identify with both There are breathtakingly beautiful descriptions of every aspect of nature, light, desert, sea, wildlife and repeated descriptions of the lovely, decadent, and deadly city of Alexandria Durrell makes you feel the heat, smell th Looking over the Goodreads reviews of this tetralogy, I find almost everyone gave it either five stars with the note that it s the greatest work they have ever read and that it changed their lives, to one or two stars mark...I received The Alexandria Quartet as a Christmas gift from a dear person, and I was in the mood for reading series Although I haven t had much time for reading, this books had a hypnotic quality to them that sucked me in deep in the Durrell s world, city of Alexandria There are so many great quotes from this books that I not going to quote anything, because I can t decide on one of just a few The writing was magical, poetic, mystical, deep, talking about core and the essence of humans, often I received The Alexandria Quartet as a Christmas gift from a dear person, and I was in the mood for reading series Although I haven t had much time for reading, this books had a hypnotic quality to them that sucked me in deep in the Durrell s world, city of Alexandria There are so many great quotes from this books that I not going to quote anything, because I can t decide on one of just a few The writing was magical, poetic, mystical, deep, talking about core and the essence of humans, often saying thing that are ignored and not talked about It was painfully honest and written in original style that got me lost in abyss of human sexuality, subconscious places and seen and unseen realms of relationships You can perceive city of Alexandria as hell and as whole earth and characters are not defined and fixed, their faces constantly change thought out the course of narrative, and through them y...I realized then the truth about all love that it is an absolute which takes all or forfeits all The other feelings, compassion, tenderness and so on, exist only on the periphery and belong on the constructions of society and habit.My gratitude for M.J Nicholls remains at the fore of this celebration It wasn t he that steered me to this massive work I am honestly unable to gather any of MJNs inferences in the direction of Durrell It wasNicholls esprit, that laudable expansion on what I realized then the truth about all love ...Even though it took me ages to finish this massive read, the eloquence and the elegancy of the prose blew me away I absolutely adored the fact that the plot was non linear, at least during the first 3 books, whilst the landscape descriptions were mesmerizing and haunting.This is definitely an unparallel piece of art, full of philosophical reflections and beautifully written passages about love Yes, one day I found myself writing down with trembling fingers the four words four letters four face Even though it took me ages to finish this massive read, the eloquence and the elegancy of the prose...Being a serial book adulterer I have fallen into and wandered out of love with an amoral number of books but I remain forever in thrall to the Alexandria Quartet.Of course, I may change my mind in ten years Let s just wait and see.While I was reading Les Trois Mousquetaires last week, I wondered a couple of times if it had served as partial inspiration for The Alexandria Quartet One of the cleverest things about the Dumas novel is the way he reinterprets early 17th century French history as really being about the romantic lives of Anne of Austria, on the large scene, and D Artagnan, on the small one a sort of Sherlock Holmes Basil the Great Mouse Detective deal Here, Durrell takes the idea a step further The first th While I was reading Les Trois Mousquetaires last week, I wondered a couple of times if it had served as partial inspiration for The Alexandria Quartet One of the cleverest things about the Dumas novel is the way he reinterprets early 17th century French history as really being about the romantic lives of Anne of Austria, on the large scene, and D Artagnan, on the small one a sort of Sherlock Holmes Basil the Great Mouse Detective deal Here, Durrell takes the idea a step further The first three novels give interlocking views of the same story In Justine, we have an account of a complex love affair from the point of view of one of the people involved The second novel, Balthazar, gives a different, external perspective on the same affair suddenly, a number of things which previously didn t quite make sense come into perspective In Mountolive, we get a third take the whole thing was really about a messy political intrigue And the last book is a sequel ...

The Alexandria Quartet (The Alexandria Quartet #1-4)
  • English
  • 26 June 2018
  • Paperback
  • 884 pages
  • 0140153179
  • Lawrence Durrell
  • The Alexandria Quartet (The Alexandria Quartet #1-4)