Lawrence Durrell's 'islomania' was the source of three of his best-loved books, "Prospero's Cell", "Reflections on a Marine Venus" and "Bitter Lemons". In order to equip himself to write about Sicily, whose history is so long and varied, and its archaeological remains so rich and spectacular, Durrell joined a tour, the 'Sicilian Carousel' to round the island and see the famous sights. On the surface we have a characteristically amusing account of his travels with a mixed bag of companions, but the deeper theme if Mediterranean civilisation, its manifestation and its meaning, not only in Sicily, but in Greece itself, in Italy, and in Southern France. This book includes several poems by Durrell, all inspired by different parts of the island.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Maße
Höhe: 216 mm
Breite: 135 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-571-27534-2 (9780571275342)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Lawrence Durrell was born in 1912 in India. He attended the Jesuit College at Darjeeling and St Edmund's School, Canterbury. His first literary work, The Black Book, appeared in Paris in 1958. His first collection of poems, A Private Country, was published in 1943, followed by the three Island books: Prospero's Cell, Reflections on a Marine Venus, about Rhodes, and Bitter Lemons, his account of life in Cyprus. Durrell's wartime sojourn in Egypt led to his masterpiece The Alexandria Quartet, completed in southern France where he settled permanently in 1957. Between the Quartet and The Avignon Quintet he wrote the two-decker Tunc and Nunquam. His oeuvre includes plays, a book of criticism, translations, travel writing, and humorous stories about the diplomatic corps. Caesar's Vast Ghost, his reflections on the history and culture of Provence, including a late flowering of poems, appeared a few days before his death in Sommieres in 1990.
