[ilds] Great Tonal Register of Historical Dreams

[Bruce Redwine]

Kudos to Charles for noting the importance of dreams and reverie in Durrell.  I agree completely.  I too recall those small passages with great delight and am mystified by their magic.  They stud the narrative like garnet intrusions -- gem-like, with a bow to Charles's beloved Pater.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
>Sent: Nov 18, 2007 9:18 AM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: [ilds] Regarding the Balfour Declaration &c.
>
>Now that we have laid out our different points of view on the historical 
>events, incidents, rumors, and innuendo surrounding the the Balfour 
>Declaration &c., may I ask that we take the discussion back to Durrell's 
>engagements with the topic, either in life or in the literature?  I am 
>no expert in any of these matters, but I have given some time to reading 
>Lawrence Durrell.  I feel more safe judging on the ground of his works.
>
>Michael's point about Durrell's changing views on the establishment of 
>Israel might be a place to start.  Michael wrote that:
>
>>         Durrell was angry at the way Egypt treated Eve on account of her 
>>         being Jewish -- though she was born in Egypt, and her father was born 
>>         in Egypt, etc, she was denied statehood and a passport, and he knew she 
>>         had no future there, 'she could not function in Egypt' was the way he 
>>         put it somewhere.  There were plenty of reasons even before he met 
>>         Claude for him forming a sympathetic view of the plight of Jews in the 
>>         Middle East in the face of growing Arab nationalism and exclusionism.
>>
>>         On the other hand Durrell hated first principles, anything that came 
>>         down to a single point of view, an ultimate origin, and he reflects 
>>         that in the structure of his writing, but also in his attitude towards 
>>         monotheism whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim, though he tended to 
>>         hold the Jews responsible for being the inventors of the idea.  His 
>>         invectives against Jews in this respect sometimes go beyond the pale, 
>>         as in Caesar's Vast Ghost.  Age and drink did not help.
>
>I find this a fair charting out Durrell's views from the 1940s through 
>1990.  The "first principles" point is a valid point of caution for 
>anyone doing political readings of Durrell.  Like Byron, he abhorred 
>Cant (righteousness, verbal decorum, political correctness) in any form.
>
>But what else may we find in the literature?  Even in the /Quartet /we 
>will not find a single, coherent view, I think.  Yes, we find moments of 
>sympathy for a variety of Jewish characters and Jewish causes.  And we 
>might look beyond the character Justine and the furrier Cohen, the 
>latter being one the most interesting characters in the /Quartet /for me 
>these days.  Balthazar himself is a fine starting point to see the 
>extremely varied and ironic expression of Durrell's interest.  Since 
>Balthazar's family originates elsewhere, Durrell can even glance at a 
>broader, more richly saturated historical spectrum of Jewish 
>displacement--cf. the dream-memories of B's father's timepiece:  "A tall 
>Jew, dressed in furs, riding a sledge" (2.2 &c.)   Those reveries on the 
>flight of B's father and mother move into the tonal register of the 
>great cycle of historical dreams. 
>
>(Other instances of this tonal register happen when the dying Cohen 
>recalls Melissa, when Scobie is recalling his parents, and when 
>Mountolive recalls his childhood.  I take great delight in all of these 
>passages.)
>
>Again, when I say "more rich," I mean that I can only judge within the 
>terms of Durrell's works.
>
>I will be happy to hear more about Durrell, less about the rest.
>
>Charles