Justine (The Alexandria Quartet #1)

Posted on 24 October 2018 by Lawrence Durrell

The time is the eve of the Second World War The place is Alexandria, an Egyptian city that once housed the world s greatest library and whose inhabitants are still dedicated to knowledge But for the obsessed and purblind characters in this mesmerizing first novel of the Alexandria Quartet, the pursuit of knowledge leads to no library, only to the bedrooms in which each seeks to know and possess the other Since its publication in 1957, Justine has inspired an almost religious devotion among readers and critics It is not so much a book as it is a self contained universe, constructed by one of the most elegant and formidably intelligent minds in contemporary fiction. Free Download Justine (The Alexandria Quartet #1) author Lawrence Durrell For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr In the great quietness of these winter evenings there is one clock the sea It s dim momentum in the mind is the fugue upon which this writing is made Empty cadences of sea water licking it s own wounds,sulking along the mouths of the delta, boiling upon those deserted beaches empty under the gulls white scribble on the grey, munched by clouds Lawrence Durrell, JustineSometimes you discover a new author and know you re going to be friends for life A one sided friendship but you know yo In the great quietness of these winter evenings there is one clock the sea It s dim momentum in the mind is the fugue upon which this writing is made Empty cadences of sea water licking it s own wounds,sulking along the mouths of the delta, boiling upon those deserted beaches empty under the gulls white scribble on the grey, munched by clouds Lawrence Durrell, JustineSometimes you discover a new author and know you re going to be friends for life A one sided friendship but you know you ll be better off for it.I just finished one of the most beautiful books I ve ever read I have never read such exquisite descriptions in my life This is a story focusing on the intertwining lives of the unnamed Irish narrator Melissa, his girlfriend Justine, the woman everyone is infatuated with and her husband, Nessim, living in Egypt just before the break of the First World War You expect there to be affairs, and there are, but t...I woke too soon Unfortunately, I think that s the problem with this one I feel like someone getting surgery who has gotten an insufficient dose of anesthesia, or someone who opens her eyes wide in the midst of a hypnotist act I really wasn t looking to make you look bad, and quite frankly I d prefer it if you d put me back to sleep, but here I am, nonetheless, looking at you Durrell feels like he was put in charge of the ...For Once Four Was Too Few for a QuartetI decided to re readJustineafter something like 30 years before starting the subsequent books ofThe Alexandria Quartetfor the first time.As much as I enjoyed the novel, I suspect that it will acquire even greater meaning and resonance once I ve finished the Quartet.Each volume of the Quartet is named after one of the members of the narrator s peer group in pre war Alexandria The first page mentions four friends Justine and Nessim, Melissa and Ba For Once Four Was Too Few for a QuartetI decided to re readJustineafter something like 30 years before starting the subsequent books ofThe Alexandria Quartetfor the first time.As much as I enjoyed the novel, I suspect that it will acquire even greater meaning and resonance once I ve...I have been meaning to read the Alexandria Quartet for many years and now seems to be a good time The first part of the Quartet focuses on a struggling writer Darley it tells in retrospect the story of a doomed love affair between Darley and Justine, the wife of an Egyptian Copt called Nessim It is set in Alexandria and there is a strong supporting cast of characters Pombal, an official at the French consulate who lives with Darley Capodistria, a Greek who is a broker Scobie, a transvest I have been meaning to read the Alexandria Quartet for many years and now seems to be a good time The first part of the Quartet focuses on a struggling writer Darley it tells in retrospect the story of a doomed love affair between Darley and Justine, the wife of an Egyptian Copt called Nessim It is set in Alexandria and there is a strong supporting cast of characters Pombal, an official at the French consulate who lives with Darley Capodistria, a Greek who is a broker Scobie, a transvestite Pursewarden, another novelist Clea and Balthazar have their own novels The writing is poetic and luscious and you can feel the shimmering heat of Alexandria and its scents, colours and sounds The city is almost another character a city of dreams and lost horizons The whole thing is magical, erotic, steeped in Freud The poetry of Cavafy at the end is especially apt The events are not in order chronologically, but there is coherence to them the setting is the 1930s This is on...This book is suffused with wistful nostalgia, with Mediterranean languor and the love and lust of yesterday I lived in Egypt many years ago and this book brought back my own nostalgic memories of carefree youth So perhaps I m a biased reader But who isn tConcise Summary The book is difficult Words such as immoral sophistry and highbrow drivel come to mind The last part induced me to raise the rating from one to two stars In this part Lawrence Durrell switches from excessive philosophizing to a resolution to the characters egotistical behavior Things actually happen we see what these people have brought down on themselves In fact there ARE some wonderful descriptions.There is no humor.I fail to believe that Lawrence Durrell delivers a bal Concise Summary The book is difficult Words such as immoral sophistry and highbrow drivel come to mind The last part induced me t...As you most likely know, this is the first book of Lawrence Durrell s acclaimed Alexandria Quartet What is it about Stupid question Unless by about you mean, what does it feel like It feels like a warm, ancient, beautiful, decaying, diverse, passionate, decadent city that seems to permeate the lives of its inhabitants, most of whom seem obsessed with sex So it is a lot about sex and what it means, and how it relates to love and manipulation, and if any of this has any moral basis There i As you most likely know, this is the first book of Lawrence Durrell s acclaimed Alexandria Quartet What is it about Stupid question Unless by about you mean, what does it feel like It feels like a warm, ancient, beautiful, decaying, diverse, passionate, decadent city that seems to permeate the lives of its inhabitants, most of whom seem obsessed with sex So it is a lot about sex and what it means, and how it relates to love and manipulation, and if any of this has any moral basis There is at least an implied plot, but this isof a spatial exploration of the main Alexandrian characters who will no doubt resurface in the subsequent novels Events are related thematically without much regard to chronology, but the whole thing plays out to a satisfying non conclusion In fact I couldn t stop thinking about the last line of the book The writing style is luscious, very poeticmuch of the story told through descriptions Oh and I ll save you some griefyou never l...D D DD D DThis book is not without merit It has some real gems sentences or ideas that are wonderful and crystallize clearly something which is true about the world Loving is so much truer when sympathy and not desire makes the match for it leaves no wounds.Or Lovers are never equally matched do you think One always overshadows the other and stunts his or her growth so that the overshadowed one must always be tormented by a desire to escape, to be free to grow Surely this is the only tragic thing This book is not without merit It has some real gems sentences or ideas that are wonderful and crystallize clearly something which is true about the world Loving is so much truer when sympathy and not desire makes the match for it leaves no wounds.Or Lovers are never equally mat...Dedication To EVE these memorials of her native cityOpening The sea is high today, with a thrilling flush of wind In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions of spring.Beautiful writing going on here P.21 phthsic definition 1 Variant of phthisis.2 Archaic Any illness of the lungs or throat, such as asthma or a cough Middle English ptisike, from Old French ptisique, from phthisicus, consumptive, from Greek phthisikos, from phthisis, wasting away, consumption see phthisis.P 64 Mo Dedication...

English
24 October 2018

Lawrence Durrell