Bitter Lemons of Cyprus
Published on 1. July 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-571-36236-3 (ISBN)
Description
Lose yourself in this classic prize-winning memoir of life in 1950s Cyprus on the brink of revolution by the legendary king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.
'Stunning.' Andre Aciman
'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' Jan Morris
'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop
'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' Elif Shafak
'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes
'Exceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.' Observer
'He writes as an artist, as well as a poet . Profoundly beautiful.' New Statesman
Cyprus, 1953. As the island fights for independence from British colonial rule, ancient conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots trouble the glittering Mediterranean waters. Into the brewing political storm enters Lawrence Durrell, yearning for the idyllic island lifestyle of his youth in Corfu.
He settles into a dilapidated villa, and with his poet's eye for beauty - and passable Greek - vividly captures the moods and atmospheres of island life in a changing world. Whether collecting folklore or wild flowers, describing the brewing revolution or eccentric local characters, Durrell is a magician with words: and the result is not only a classic travel memoir, but an intimate portrait of a community lost forever.
WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZE
'Brilliant ... Never for a moment does Durrell lose the poet's touch.' New York Times
'Stunning.' Andre Aciman
'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' Jan Morris
'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop
'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' Elif Shafak
'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes
'Exceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.' Observer
'He writes as an artist, as well as a poet . Profoundly beautiful.' New Statesman
Cyprus, 1953. As the island fights for independence from British colonial rule, ancient conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots trouble the glittering Mediterranean waters. Into the brewing political storm enters Lawrence Durrell, yearning for the idyllic island lifestyle of his youth in Corfu.
He settles into a dilapidated villa, and with his poet's eye for beauty - and passable Greek - vividly captures the moods and atmospheres of island life in a changing world. Whether collecting folklore or wild flowers, describing the brewing revolution or eccentric local characters, Durrell is a magician with words: and the result is not only a classic travel memoir, but an intimate portrait of a community lost forever.
WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZE
'Brilliant ... Never for a moment does Durrell lose the poet's touch.' New York Times
Reviews / Votes
'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' - Jan Morris'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' - Victoria Hislop
'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' - Richard Holmes
'Exceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.' - Observer
'He writes as an artist, as well as a poet . Profoundly beautiful.' - New Statesman
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
236 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-571-36236-3 (9780571362363)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Lawrence Durrell
Bitter Lemons of Cyprus
Book
07/2000
Faber & Faber
€29.91
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Lawrence Durrell was a British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. Born in 1912 in India to British colonial parents, he was sent to school in England and later moved to Corfu with his family - a period which his brother Gerald fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals - later filmed as ITV's The Durrells in Corfu - and which he himself described in Prospero's Cell. The first of Durrell's island books, this was followed by Reflections on a Marine Venus on Rhodes; Bitter Lemons, on Cyprus, which won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize; and, later, The Greek Islands.
Durrell's first major novel, The Black Book, was published in 1938 in Paris, where he befriended Henry Miller and Anais Nin - and it was praised by T. S. Eliot, who published his poetry in 1943. A wartime sojourn in Egypt inspired his bestselling masterpiece, The Alexandria Quartet (Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea) which he completed in his new home in Southern France, where in 1974 he began The Avignon Quintet. When he died in 1990, Durrell was one of the most celebrated writers in British history.
Durrell's first major novel, The Black Book, was published in 1938 in Paris, where he befriended Henry Miller and Anais Nin - and it was praised by T. S. Eliot, who published his poetry in 1943. A wartime sojourn in Egypt inspired his bestselling masterpiece, The Alexandria Quartet (Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea) which he completed in his new home in Southern France, where in 1974 he began The Avignon Quintet. When he died in 1990, Durrell was one of the most celebrated writers in British history.