Mountolive
Introduced by William Boyd
Published on 30. June 2020
208 pages
978-0-571-36235-6 (ISBN)
Description
Lose yourself in the thrilling political intrigue and tangled love affairs of wartime Egypt in Durrell's epic modern classic
'A master at creating and handling tension ... I was fascinated from the start.' Wilbur Smith
David Mountolive, a young English diplomat, has been obsessed with Egypt ever since a youthful love affair. Returning to Alexandria as British Ambassador just before World War Two, he unravels an intricate political and religious conspiracy - one that connects a web of wildly different characters, including an exiled schoolteacher and glamorous Egyptian couple. Mountolive gradually exposes the sinister underbelly of these tangled relationships, their deceptions and betrayals mirroring the explosive turmoil of the modern Middle East - and the result is Durrell's most cinematic masterpiece.
'Astonishing ... A work of splendid craft and troubling veracity.' New York Times Book Review
'A masterpiece ... Don't be fooled by the richness of the prose, the depth of the passions ... Wicked and funny.' Guardian
'Dazzlingly exuberant in style and vision, reckless in ambition, wonderfully prolific in invention ... Superb.' Observer
VOLUME THREE OF LAWRENCE DURRELL'S ALEXANDRIA QUARTET
'A master at creating and handling tension ... I was fascinated from the start.' Wilbur Smith
David Mountolive, a young English diplomat, has been obsessed with Egypt ever since a youthful love affair. Returning to Alexandria as British Ambassador just before World War Two, he unravels an intricate political and religious conspiracy - one that connects a web of wildly different characters, including an exiled schoolteacher and glamorous Egyptian couple. Mountolive gradually exposes the sinister underbelly of these tangled relationships, their deceptions and betrayals mirroring the explosive turmoil of the modern Middle East - and the result is Durrell's most cinematic masterpiece.
'Astonishing ... A work of splendid craft and troubling veracity.' New York Times Book Review
'A masterpiece ... Don't be fooled by the richness of the prose, the depth of the passions ... Wicked and funny.' Guardian
'Dazzlingly exuberant in style and vision, reckless in ambition, wonderfully prolific in invention ... Superb.' Observer
VOLUME THREE OF LAWRENCE DURRELL'S ALEXANDRIA QUARTET
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
File size
1,22 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-571-36235-6 (9780571362356)
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
Additional editions
Book
05/2021
Faber & Faber
€13.00
Article in reprint
Persons
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 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.
Content
- Intro
- Title
- Introduction
- Dedicarion
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Note
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- VIII
- IX
- X
- XI
- XII
- XIII
- XIV
- XV
- XVI
- About the Author
- Copyright Page
