Prospero's Cell
Published on 1. July 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-571-36238-7 (ISBN)
Description
Lose yourself in this glorious memoir of the island jewel of Corfu by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.
'In its gem-like miniature quality, among the best books ever written.' New York Times
In his youth, before he became a celebrated writer and poet, Lawrence Durrell spent four transformative years on the island jewel of Corfu, fascinated by the idyllic natural beauty and blood-stained ancient history within its rocky shores.
While his brother Gerald collected animals as a budding naturalist - later fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals and filmed as The Durrells in Corfu - Lawrence fished, drank and befriended the local villagers.
After World War II catapulted him back into a turmoiled world, Durrell never forgot the wonders of Corfu. Prospero's Cell is his magical evocation of the blazing Aegean landscape, brimming with memories of the places and people that changed him forever.
'Cannot be bettered ... A classic ... His words still evoke the magical qualities of the island.' Telegraph
'Some writers reinvent their language; others the world. Durrell did both.' Andre Aciman
'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
'Corfu could not have found a fitter chronicler.' Daily Telegraph
'A charming idyll ... Delightful.' Sunday Times
'In its gem-like miniature quality, among the best books ever written.' New York Times
In his youth, before he became a celebrated writer and poet, Lawrence Durrell spent four transformative years on the island jewel of Corfu, fascinated by the idyllic natural beauty and blood-stained ancient history within its rocky shores.
While his brother Gerald collected animals as a budding naturalist - later fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals and filmed as The Durrells in Corfu - Lawrence fished, drank and befriended the local villagers.
After World War II catapulted him back into a turmoiled world, Durrell never forgot the wonders of Corfu. Prospero's Cell is his magical evocation of the blazing Aegean landscape, brimming with memories of the places and people that changed him forever.
'Cannot be bettered ... A classic ... His words still evoke the magical qualities of the island.' Telegraph
'Some writers reinvent their language; others the world. Durrell did both.' Andre Aciman
'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
'Corfu could not have found a fitter chronicler.' Daily Telegraph
'A charming idyll ... Delightful.' Sunday Times
Reviews / Votes
'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
'Corfu could not have found a fitter chronicler.' - Daily Telegraph
'A charming idyll ... Delightful.' - Sunday Times
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
173 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-571-36238-7 (9780571362387)
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
Prospero's Cell
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, 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.