From holdsworth at rogers.com  Tue May 20 19:28:21 2008
From: holdsworth at rogers.com (David Holdsworth)
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 22:28:21 -0400
Subject: [ilds] Durrell and the Next Generation
In-Reply-To: <27069365.1210944701570.JavaMail.root@elwamui-chisos.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <009101c8baea$56bba1f0$6401a8c0@D13W0611>

Just for the pleasure. I would like to share with the network an e-mail I
received from my dentist. During a couple of recent visits (where I suffered
mightily!), we talked about books, travel and ultimately Lawrence Durrell.
Between drilling and spitting, I introduced him to the Alexandrian Quartet
and lent him a copy.

Here is what he wrote me tonight:

"Thank you so much for lending me a copy of The Alexandria Quartet.  I was
hooked by the opening sentences:  "The sea is high again today, with a
thrilling flush of wind.  In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions
of spring."  

This is exquisite writing, meant to be savoured at a leisurely pace, like a
bottle of Barolo.  I realized that I must have a copy of my own and, as I
write this, it is on its way from Amazon.  What is the best way to return
your copy?  Shall I send it by mail?
 
I also purchased a copy of The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader, which I am
anxious to begin as well.  Thank you for the introduction; it is always so
exciting to discover new authors.  The only problem is that work is getting
in the way of my reading.  I will have to retire earlier in order to keep
up!"

I suspect this is the kind of review (by an honest neophyte, almost 20 years
after his death) that Larry would have enjoyed the most.

David Holdsworth
Ottawa, Canada





From durrell at bigpond.com  Wed May 21 15:03:59 2008
From: durrell at bigpond.com (durrell at bigpond.com)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 8:03:59 +1000
Subject: [ilds] Australian Durrell Society
Message-ID: <28899182.1211407439102.JavaMail.root@nschwwebs02p>

The Mind: LD
God winks...
Big Bang.
Man thinks...
Big Mind.

Good Morn from stormy bondi beach MAL (short for michael and lulu)....hope you are both enjoying the cod....city of dreams rather....i am seeking some spontaneous wise mind or better yet skewed mind commentary regarding this deceptive little LD poetique....perhaps the drawing power of this, my personal favourite aphorism of LD, will be sufficient to extract a few responses from LD fans worldwide...hopefully some in the form of letters, poems and repartee for the Nov08 ADS xmas party....we look forward to your thoughts about LD's poem which i believe he relayed to you over a several bottles of red....best wishes drd


---- Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote: 
> Congratulations and best wishes.  Larry would be honored.
> 
> 
> Bruce
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Denise Tart & David Green <dtart at bigpond.net.au>
> >Sent: May 14, 2008 11:54 PM
> >To: Durrel <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
> >Subject: [ilds] Australian Durrell Society
> >
> >The Australian Durrell Society held its inaugeral meeting last night in the members lounge bar of the NSW Art Gallery. Over two bottles of Cabernet Merlot, a mission statement was written and a plan implemented. The Australian Durrell Society will meet monthly at a convivial Sydney establishement, The Australian Hotel, and plans to hold a convention in November. This is late spring in the southern hemisphere and is a good time to visit the Great South Land. Accomodation in Australia's premier Megaloposis can be surprisingly cheap and harbour views are easily available from several key centres. The beaches are fab, the beer, wine and food excellent - and you dont get meal portions that no sane person could eat at one sitting.
> >
> >David.
> >
> >
> >Denise Tart & David Green
> >16 William Street, Marrickville NSW 2204
> >
> >+61 2 9564 6165
> >0412 707 625
> >dtart at bigpond.net.au
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds


From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Wed May 21 22:51:00 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 23:51:00 -0600
Subject: [ilds] caveat
Message-ID: <483509C4.1080109@gmail.com>

Hello all,

I'm posting Anthony's latest "message" about Australia to the listserv 
with the caveat that he has not (and apparently will not) subscribe to 
the list, so if you are inclined to contact him, please do so off-list 
since he won't receive any responses you post here.

Best,
James

From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 06:37:07 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 06:37:07 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] caveat
Message-ID: <32136398.1211463427363.JavaMail.root@elwamui-huard.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

I do not know why Anthony Durrell, MD, has not joined the ILDS, but he may have a good reason.  I recall that when he first posted messages over a year ago he was libeled viciously by one member of he ILDS and that was allowed to happen without any official condemnation.  I enjoy reading Dr. Durrell's infrequent communications and appreciate his unique views on his namesake and possible relative.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>Sent: May 21, 2008 10:51 PM
>To: ILDS Listserv <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
>Subject: [ilds] caveat
>
>Hello all,
>
>I'm posting Anthony's latest "message" about Australia to the listserv 
>with the caveat that he has not (and apparently will not) subscribe to 
>the list, so if you are inclined to contact him, please do so off-list 
>since he won't receive any responses you post here.
>
>Best,
>James



From richardpin at eircom.net  Thu May 22 07:03:42 2008
From: richardpin at eircom.net (richardpin at eircom.net)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 15:03:42 +0100
Subject: [ilds] caveat
Message-ID: <200805221410.m4MEASqL10428500@cascara.comp.uvic.ca>

Bruce Redwine probably has me in mind when he refers to someone 'viciously libelling' Anthony Durrell. If A Durrell were to attempt to bring the alleged libel to court, there would be many witnesses to his apppalling behaviour in Corfu which would establish that my criticisms of him were not 'libellous' but completely factual. Bruce Redwine was not there. At least 20 people were, who, both personally and professionally (including 2 psychiatrists who are far superior in their professional skills than A Durrell), experienced his puerile and unprofessional conduct. He would lose his case. Vicious maybe - libellous NO. 
RP

Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:

<  
<  I do not know why Anthony Durrell, MD, has not joined the ILDS, but he may have a good reason.  I recall that when he first posted messages over a year ago he was libeled viciously by one member of he ILDS and that was allowed to happen without any official condemnation.  I enjoy reading Dr. Durrell's infrequent communications and appreciate his unique views on his namesake and possible relative.
<  
<  
<  Bruce
<  
<  
<  -----Original Message-----
<  >From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
<  >Sent: May 21, 2008 10:51 PM
<  >To: ILDS Listserv <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
<  >Subject: [ilds] caveat
<  >
<  >Hello all,
<  >
<  >I'm posting Anthony's latest "message" about Australia to the listserv 
<  >with the caveat that he has not (and apparently will not) subscribe to 
<  >the list, so if you are inclined to contact him, please do so off-list 
<  >since he won't receive any responses you post here.
<  >
<  >Best,
<  >James
<  
<  
<  _______________________________________________
<  ILDS mailing list
<  ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
<  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
<  



-----------------------------------------------------------------
Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property
Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts



From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 07:20:48 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 07:20:48 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] caveat
Message-ID: <33363648.1211466048782.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

I recall that Dr. Durrell's professional qualifications were questioned and disparaged -- he was portrayed as a charlatan -- and that is libelous, as I understand the law.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: richardpin at eircom.net
>Sent: May 22, 2008 7:03 AM
>To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
>
>Bruce Redwine probably has me in mind when he refers to someone 'viciously libelling' Anthony Durrell. If A Durrell were to attempt to bring the alleged libel to court, there would be many witnesses to his apppalling behaviour in Corfu which would establish that my criticisms of him were not 'libellous' but completely factual. Bruce Redwine was not there. At least 20 people were, who, both personally and professionally (including 2 psychiatrists who are far superior in their professional skills than A Durrell), experienced his puerile and unprofessional conduct. He would lose his case. Vicious maybe - libellous NO. 
>RP
>
>Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:
>
><  
><  I do not know why Anthony Durrell, MD, has not joined the ILDS, but he may have a good reason.  I recall that when he first posted messages over a year ago he was libeled viciously by one member of he ILDS and that was allowed to happen without any official condemnation.  I enjoy reading Dr. Durrell's infrequent communications and appreciate his unique views on his namesake and possible relative.
><  
><  
><  Bruce
><  
><  
><  -----Original Message-----
><  >From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
><  >Sent: May 21, 2008 10:51 PM
><  >To: ILDS Listserv <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
><  >Subject: [ilds] caveat
><  >
><  >Hello all,
><  >
><  >I'm posting Anthony's latest "message" about Australia to the listserv 
><  >with the caveat that he has not (and apparently will not) subscribe to 
><  >the list, so if you are inclined to contact him, please do so off-list 
><  >since he won't receive any responses you post here.
><  >
><  >Best,
><  >James
><  
><  
><  _______________________________________________
><  ILDS mailing list
><  ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
><  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
><  
>
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property
>Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts
>
>


From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 09:09:23 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 12:09:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [ilds] An Invitation
Message-ID: <11952619.1211472563778.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Thanks for the comment, Ilyas.  Yes, I think Dr. Durrell should be welcomed to join the discussions.  He has insights into Lawrence Durrell's spiritual side which often get overlooked but which Durrell himself held in great importance.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: Ilyas <ilyas.khan at crosby.com>
>Sent: May 22, 2008 6:50 AM
>To: "Bruce Redwine , ilds at lists.uvic.ca" <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
>Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
>
>Bruce I think it was one person in particular who attacked and you are  
>right to note that the rest of us mostly remained silent. I don't  
>enjoy our antipodean's messages or appreciate them as you do but I do  
>think he was treated harshly. However if he won't join then that is  
>his choice I guess. Are you suggesting we invite him back ?
>
>Sent from my iPhone



From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 09:10:27 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 12:10:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [ilds] Durrell and the Next Generation
Message-ID: <13428098.1211472627482.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

David, is your dentist accepting new patients?


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: David Holdsworth <holdsworth at rogers.com>
>Sent: May 20, 2008 10:28 PM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: [ilds] Durrell and the Next Generation
>
>Just for the pleasure. I would like to share with the network an e-mail I
>received from my dentist. During a couple of recent visits (where I suffered
>mightily!), we talked about books, travel and ultimately Lawrence Durrell.
>Between drilling and spitting, I introduced him to the Alexandrian Quartet
>and lent him a copy.
>
>Here is what he wrote me tonight:
>
>"Thank you so much for lending me a copy of The Alexandria Quartet.  I was
>hooked by the opening sentences:  "The sea is high again today, with a
>thrilling flush of wind.  In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions
>of spring."  
>
>This is exquisite writing, meant to be savoured at a leisurely pace, like a
>bottle of Barolo.  I realized that I must have a copy of my own and, as I
>write this, it is on its way from Amazon.  What is the best way to return
>your copy?  Shall I send it by mail?
> 
>I also purchased a copy of The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader, which I am
>anxious to begin as well.  Thank you for the introduction; it is always so
>exciting to discover new authors.  The only problem is that work is getting
>in the way of my reading.  I will have to retire earlier in order to keep
>up!"
>
>I suspect this is the kind of review (by an honest neophyte, almost 20 years
>after his death) that Larry would have enjoyed the most.
>
>David Holdsworth
>Ottawa, Canada



From slighcl at wfu.edu  Thu May 22 11:46:03 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 14:46:03 -0400
Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
Message-ID: <4835BF6B.8080604@wfu.edu>



*Writers at War
Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 5/19/2008
*
Harmony exec editor John Glusman bought world rights to The Ariadne 
Objective by Wes Davis via Neil Olson. It tells the story of British 
Special Operations forces on Crete in WWII who, aided by the Greek 
resistance, brazenly kidnapped the German general in command of land 
forces, and stars some of the leading literary lights of the 
day---Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh 
Fermor. Davis served for three years as assistant to the director of 
excavations at Kavousi in eastern Crete, just north of where SOE landed 
supplies for this daring exploit. Publication is slated for 2011.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6561931.html?industryid=47146

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 12:41:45 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 12:41:45 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
Message-ID: <16197350.1211485305276.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Lawrence Durrell???  That would be news.  If I'm not mistaken, W. Stanley Moss in his Ill Met by Moonlight (1950), the first-hand account of that famous British commando raid, makes no mention of Lawrence Durrell, who, I believe, had nothing to do with British military operations in WWII.  Waugh, Dahl, and Fermor did serve in the British military.


Bruce

-----Original Message-----
>From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
>Sent: May 22, 2008 11:46 AM
>To: Durrell <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
>Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
>
>
>
>*Writers at War
>Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 5/19/2008
>*
>Harmony exec editor John Glusman bought world rights to The Ariadne 
>Objective by Wes Davis via Neil Olson. It tells the story of British 
>Special Operations forces on Crete in WWII who, aided by the Greek 
>resistance, brazenly kidnapped the German general in command of land 
>forces, and stars some of the leading literary lights of the 
>day---Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh 
>Fermor. Davis served for three years as assistant to the director of 
>excavations at Kavousi in eastern Crete, just north of where SOE landed 
>supplies for this daring exploit. Publication is slated for 2011.
>
>http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6561931.html?industryid=47146



From godshawl at email.uc.edu  Thu May 22 13:03:27 2008
From: godshawl at email.uc.edu (william godshalk)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 16:03:27 -0400
Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
In-Reply-To: <16197350.1211485305276.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.
	earthlink.net>
References: <16197350.1211485305276.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <61.E1.12496.291D5384@gwout2>

Perhaps our boy has been up to no good on dark and foggy nights in 
the Med. Blowing German cruisers. Darley's dive is a reminiscence of 
his special work for MI during the Big One.


At 03:41 PM 5/22/2008, you wrote:
>Lawrence Durrell???  That would be news.  If I'm not mistaken, W. 
>Stanley Moss in his Ill Met by Moonlight (1950), the first-hand 
>account of that famous British commando raid, makes no mention of 
>Lawrence Durrell, who, I believe, had nothing to do with British 
>military operations in WWII.  Waugh, Dahl, and Fermor did serve in 
>the British military.
>
>
>Bruce
>
>-----Original Message-----
> >From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
> >Sent: May 22, 2008 11:46 AM
> >To: Durrell <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
> >Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
> >
> >
> >
> >*Writers at War
> >Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 5/19/2008
> >*
> >Harmony exec editor John Glusman bought world rights to The Ariadne
> >Objective by Wes Davis via Neil Olson. It tells the story of British
> >Special Operations forces on Crete in WWII who, aided by the Greek
> >resistance, brazenly kidnapped the German general in command of land
> >forces, and stars some of the leading literary lights of the
> >day---Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh
> >Fermor. Davis served for three years as assistant to the director of
> >excavations at Kavousi in eastern Crete, just north of where SOE landed
> >supplies for this daring exploit. Publication is slated for 2011.
> >
> >http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6561931.html?industryid=47146
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>ILDS mailing list
>ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

***************************************
W. L. Godshalk		*
Department of English         *
University of Cincinnati            Stellar disorder  *
Cincinnati OH 45221-0069      *
513-281-5927
***************************************



From slighcl at wfu.edu  Thu May 22 13:25:16 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 16:25:16 -0400
Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
In-Reply-To: <16197350.1211485305276.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <16197350.1211485305276.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <4835D6AC.3010904@wfu.edu>

On 5/22/2008 3:41 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>
>         Lawrence Durrell???  That would be news.  If I'm not mistaken, W. Stanley Moss in his Ill Met by Moonlight (1950), the first-hand account of that famous British commando raid, makes no mention of Lawrence Durrell, who, I believe, had nothing to do with British military operations in WWII.  Waugh, Dahl, and Fermor did serve in the British military.
>               
>
I think that perhaps we are misunderstanding an ill-written sentence:

>>         It tells the story of British 
>>         Special Operations forces on Crete in WWII who, aided by the Greek 
>>         resistance, brazenly kidnapped the German general in command of land 
>>         forces, and stars some of the leading literary lights of the 
>>         day---Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh 
>>         Fermor. 

Read that again (with patience).  I take the blurb to mean that /The 
Ariadne Project/ tells the story of British Special Operations forces on 
Crete, with attention given to other persons of note who were at work in 
the Mediterranean during the conflict.  Durrell probably makes a cameo 
sitting at a bar or typing behind a desk.  But who can say?

If anyone else knows more specifics about this project, please do let 
the listserv know.

C&c.

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 13:43:19 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 13:43:19 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
Message-ID: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Bill, I believe you're onto something important.  I think you're right -- old LD had secret ambitions to be a soldier and do "derring-do."  He was clearly frustrated in that regard.  Some of his most sympathetic figures are soldiers or former soldiers, and here I'm thinking of Deeds in Sicilian Carousel and how the desert campaign makes a man of sniveling John Keats, reporter.


Bruce
   

-----Original Message-----
>From: william godshalk <godshawl at email.uc.edu>
>Sent: May 22, 2008 1:03 PM
>To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
>
>Perhaps our boy has been up to no good on dark and foggy nights in 
>the Med. Blowing German cruisers. Darley's dive is a reminiscence of 
>his special work for MI during the Big One.
>
>
>At 03:41 PM 5/22/2008, you wrote:
>>Lawrence Durrell???  That would be news.  If I'm not mistaken, W. 
>>Stanley Moss in his Ill Met by Moonlight (1950), the first-hand 
>>account of that famous British commando raid, makes no mention of 
>>Lawrence Durrell, who, I believe, had nothing to do with British 
>>military operations in WWII.  Waugh, Dahl, and Fermor did serve in 
>>the British military.
>>
>>
>>Bruce
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>> >From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
>> >Sent: May 22, 2008 11:46 AM
>> >To: Durrell <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
>> >Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >*Writers at War
>> >Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 5/19/2008
>> >*
>> >Harmony exec editor John Glusman bought world rights to The Ariadne
>> >Objective by Wes Davis via Neil Olson. It tells the story of British
>> >Special Operations forces on Crete in WWII who, aided by the Greek
>> >resistance, brazenly kidnapped the German general in command of land
>> >forces, and stars some of the leading literary lights of the
>> >day---Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh
>> >Fermor. Davis served for three years as assistant to the director of
>> >excavations at Kavousi in eastern Crete, just north of where SOE landed
>> >supplies for this daring exploit. Publication is slated for 2011.
>> >
>> >http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6561931.html?industryid=47146
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>ILDS mailing list
>>ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>>https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>
>***************************************
>W. L. Godshalk		*
>Department of English         *
>University of Cincinnati            Stellar disorder  *
>Cincinnati OH 45221-0069      *
>513-281-5927
>***************************************
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>ILDS mailing list
>ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds


From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Thu May 22 06:49:15 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 07:49:15 -0600
Subject: [ilds] journal writing workshop on Rhodes
In-Reply-To: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <483579DB.8090106@gmail.com>

Hello all,

This has landed in my inbox and I thought I should share.  It may be 
tricky for anyone who has such pesky things as a full-time job, but for 
the rest or friends on Rhodes this looks grand!

Cheers,
James

----------

http://www.creartive-rhodes.com/

In Durrell's Footsteps

(a self-exploration through journal writing)
Led by Michael Curtis Wright

     * Course Dates:
     * Sunday, 13th to Friday, 18th July, 2008
     * Sunday, 27th July to Friday, 1st August, 2008
     * Sunday, 10th to Friday, 15th August, 2008
     * Sunday, 21st  to Friday, 26th September, 2008 and Sunday, 12th to 
Friday, 17th October, 2008

Summary: Since antiquity, the transformational journey has been a 
cornerstone of European literature.  From the adventures of earth 
Odysseus to modern backpackers embarking on a ferry to the Greek 
islands, this basic theme remains unchanged.  In the best books, words 
reflect real experience and are a record of the great forces which 
govern our lives.  Certain authors give us a indication that the path to 
our true self is written somewhere on the traveller's road.  This course 
touches on the writers such as Cicero and Byron, Freya Stark and 
primarily Lawrence Durrell, whose lives were irrevocably changed by 
their encounter with the Hellenic Spirit.

From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 13:57:04 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 13:57:04 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
Message-ID: <15292517.1211489824567.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Charles has it right.  Durrell at a bar on Gezira Island, Cairo, or at the Shepheard's long bar.  There he meets Fermor, and there they share a drink with Gen. Kreipe, formerly CG of the Wehrmacht on Crete.  They recite Latin poetry (Fermor claims the general knew his Horace) and exchange stories . . .

Bruce

-----Original Message-----
>From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
>Sent: May 22, 2008 1:25 PM
>To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
>
>On 5/22/2008 3:41 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>>
>>         Lawrence Durrell???  That would be news.  If I'm not mistaken, W. Stanley Moss in his Ill Met by Moonlight (1950), the first-hand account of that famous British commando raid, makes no mention of Lawrence Durrell, who, I believe, had nothing to do with British military operations in WWII.  Waugh, Dahl, and Fermor did serve in the British military.
>>               
>>
>I think that perhaps we are misunderstanding an ill-written sentence:
>
>>>         It tells the story of British 
>>>         Special Operations forces on Crete in WWII who, aided by the Greek 
>>>         resistance, brazenly kidnapped the German general in command of land 
>>>         forces, and stars some of the leading literary lights of the 
>>>         day---Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh 
>>>         Fermor. 
>
>Read that again (with patience).  I take the blurb to mean that /The 
>Ariadne Project/ tells the story of British Special Operations forces on 
>Crete, with attention given to other persons of note who were at work in 
>the Mediterranean during the conflict.  Durrell probably makes a cameo 
>sitting at a bar or typing behind a desk.  But who can say?
>
>If anyone else knows more specifics about this project, please do let 
>the listserv know.
>
>C&c.



From richardpin at eircom.net  Thu May 22 14:26:44 2008
From: richardpin at eircom.net (richardpin at eircom.net)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 22:26:44 +0100
Subject: [ilds] caveat
Message-ID: <200805222126.m4MLQhLj12886020@cascara.comp.uvic.ca>

There are 2 'll's in libellous. He is a charlatan. He claims to be a teacher at a Austrailian University whose website has no knowledge whatoever of his involvement in that branch 0f academe. I do not for one moment question his credentials as a practising doctor, but his involvemnt in our school exposed his serious deficiencies as both a medical doctor and  a reader of Lawrence Durrell.

Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:

<  
<  I recall that Dr. Durrell's professional qualifications were questioned and disparaged -- he was portrayed as a charlatan -- and that is libelous, as I understand the law.
<  
<  
<  Bruce
<  
<  
<  -----Original Message-----
<  >From: richardpin at eircom.net
<  >Sent: May 22, 2008 7:03 AM
<  >To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
<  >Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
<  >
<  >Bruce Redwine probably has me in mind when he refers to someone 'viciously libelling' Anthony Durrell. If A Durrell were to attempt to bring the alleged libel to court, there would be many witnesses to his apppalling behaviour in Corfu which would establish that my criticisms of him were not 'libellous' but completely factual. Bruce Redwine was not there. At least 20 people were, who, both personally and professionally (including 2 psychiatrists who are far superior in their professional skills than A Durrell), experienced his puerile and unprofessional conduct. He would lose his case. Vicious maybe - libellous NO. 
<  >RP
<  >
<  >Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:
<  >
<  ><  
<  ><  I do not know why Anthony Durrell, MD, has not joined the ILDS, but he may have a good reason.  I recall that when he first posted messages over a year ago he was libeled viciously by one member of he ILDS and that was allowed to happen without any official condemnation.  I enjoy reading Dr. Durrell's infrequent communications and appreciate his unique views on his namesake and possible relative.
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  Bruce
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  -----Original Message-----
<  ><  >From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
<  ><  >Sent: May 21, 2008 10:51 PM
<  ><  >To: ILDS Listserv <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
<  ><  >Subject: [ilds] caveat
<  ><  >
<  ><  >Hello all,
<  ><  >
<  ><  >I'm posting Anthony's latest "message" about Australia to the listserv 
<  ><  >with the caveat that he has not (and apparently will not) subscribe to 
<  ><  >the list, so if you are inclined to contact him, please do so off-list 
<  ><  >since he won't receive any responses you post here.
<  ><  >
<  ><  >Best,
<  ><  >James
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  _______________________________________________
<  ><  ILDS mailing list
<  ><  ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
<  ><  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
<  ><  
<  >
<  >
<  >
<  >-----------------------------------------------------------------
<  >Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property
<  >Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts
<  >
<  >
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<  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
<  



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From richardpin at eircom.net  Thu May 22 14:26:44 2008
From: richardpin at eircom.net (richardpin at eircom.net)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 22:26:44 +0100
Subject: [ilds] caveat
Message-ID: <200805222126.m4MLQhLO12009478@cascara.comp.uvic.ca>

There are 2 'll's in libellous. He is a charlatan. He claims to be a teacher at a Austrailian University whose website has no knowledge whatoever of his involvement in that branch 0f academe. I do not for one moment question his credentials as a practising doctor, but his involvemnt in our school exposed his serious deficiencies as both a medical doctor and  a reader of Lawrence Durrell.

Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:

<  
<  I recall that Dr. Durrell's professional qualifications were questioned and disparaged -- he was portrayed as a charlatan -- and that is libelous, as I understand the law.
<  
<  
<  Bruce
<  
<  
<  -----Original Message-----
<  >From: richardpin at eircom.net
<  >Sent: May 22, 2008 7:03 AM
<  >To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
<  >Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
<  >
<  >Bruce Redwine probably has me in mind when he refers to someone 'viciously libelling' Anthony Durrell. If A Durrell were to attempt to bring the alleged libel to court, there would be many witnesses to his apppalling behaviour in Corfu which would establish that my criticisms of him were not 'libellous' but completely factual. Bruce Redwine was not there. At least 20 people were, who, both personally and professionally (including 2 psychiatrists who are far superior in their professional skills than A Durrell), experienced his puerile and unprofessional conduct. He would lose his case. Vicious maybe - libellous NO. 
<  >RP
<  >
<  >Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:
<  >
<  ><  
<  ><  I do not know why Anthony Durrell, MD, has not joined the ILDS, but he may have a good reason.  I recall that when he first posted messages over a year ago he was libeled viciously by one member of he ILDS and that was allowed to happen without any official condemnation.  I enjoy reading Dr. Durrell's infrequent communications and appreciate his unique views on his namesake and possible relative.
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  Bruce
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  -----Original Message-----
<  ><  >From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
<  ><  >Sent: May 21, 2008 10:51 PM
<  ><  >To: ILDS Listserv <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
<  ><  >Subject: [ilds] caveat
<  ><  >
<  ><  >Hello all,
<  ><  >
<  ><  >I'm posting Anthony's latest "message" about Australia to the listserv 
<  ><  >with the caveat that he has not (and apparently will not) subscribe to 
<  ><  >the list, so if you are inclined to contact him, please do so off-list 
<  ><  >since he won't receive any responses you post here.
<  ><  >
<  ><  >Best,
<  ><  >James
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  _______________________________________________
<  ><  ILDS mailing list
<  ><  ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
<  ><  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
<  ><  
<  >
<  >
<  >
<  >-----------------------------------------------------------------
<  >Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property
<  >Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts
<  >
<  >
<  
<  _______________________________________________
<  ILDS mailing list
<  ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
<  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
<  



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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 15:56:43 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 15:56:43 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] Spelling
Message-ID: <6847531.1211497003487.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Speaking of deficiencies, my dictionary, The American Heritage, lists "libelous" as the primary spelling.  But some Brits may dismiss that as an American barbarism.  No English dictionary, I think, lists "Austrailian" as the correct spelling of "Australian," although that may be intended as a deliberate slight on those Down-under.  Errors in spelling may indicate errors in correctly querying a university in Australia.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: richardpin at eircom.net
>Sent: May 22, 2008 2:26 PM
>To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca, Durrell list <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
>Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
>
>There are 2 'll's in libellous. He is a charlatan. He claims to be a teacher at a Austrailian University whose website has no knowledge whatoever of his involvement in that branch 0f academe. I do not for one moment question his credentials as a practising doctor, but his involvemnt in our school exposed his serious deficiencies as both a medical doctor and  a reader of Lawrence Durrell.
>
>Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:
>
><  
><  I recall that Dr. Durrell's professional qualifications were questioned and disparaged -- he was portrayed as a charlatan -- and that is libelous, as I understand the law.
><  
><  
><  Bruce


From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu May 22 16:37:52 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 16:37:52 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] An Invitation to a repeat of the past?
Message-ID: <11706651.1211499472407.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Dr. D.,

I'm inclined to agree with you, but I don't know how to approach the subject.  My training is not in this type of literary analysis.  Without a doubt Durrell thought of himself as a religious writer -- but one of a special sort.  I sense, however, that there is indeed something behind his words -- baffling as they often are -- which suggests something numinous and which some people are particularly receptive to.  David Holdsworth today told the story of how he gave Justine to his dentist, who is not an impressionable youth, who had never read Durrell before, and who was immediately enraptured by the novel's first words.  It's that kind of special power in Durrell's writings that suggests to me that he had spiritual gifts, which we readers usually call the "magic" of his style but which may indicate something more profound.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: durrell at bigpond.com
>Sent: May 22, 2008 3:31 PM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
>Subject: Re:An Invitation to a repeat of the past?
>
>Bruce.....thanks once again for recognising the true essence of LD's literary mission and my empathy towards his heraldic perspective and spiritual quest....he is a literary bodhisattva....i sense a shift in your engagement with LD towards an insight with which I contentedly concur....that is one can view the outpouring of his creative works as an expressive externalised reaction to his spiritual revelations....thus in a sense i propose that his works are more accurately viewed as epiphenomenonal rather than cognitively constructed and yet they remain strongly transformational within the cognitive sets of his loyal disciples.....nevertheless i maintain that if one can absorb the works of LD with an intuitional openess of his primary heraldic drive then his creativity can be intimately consumed and savoured rather than merely tongue tasted....



From durrell at bigpond.com  Thu May 22 15:31:21 2008
From: durrell at bigpond.com (durrell at bigpond.com)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 8:31:21 +1000
Subject: [ilds] An Invitation to a repeat of the past?
Message-ID: <1243466.1211495481754.JavaMail.root@nschwwebs02p>

Bruce.....thanks once again for recognising the true essence of LD's literary mission and my empathy towards his heraldic perspective and spiritual quest....he is a literary bodhisattva....i sense a shift in your engagement with LD towards an insight with which I contentedly concur....that is one can view the outpouring of his creative works as an expressive externalised reaction to his spiritual revelations....thus in a sense i propose that his works are more accurately viewed as epiphenomenonal rather than cognitively constructed and yet they remain strongly transformational within the cognitive sets of his loyal disciples.....nevertheless i maintain that if one can absorb the works of LD with an intuitional openess of his primary heraldic drive then his creativity can be intimately consumed and savoured rather than merely tongue tasted....

As for the ilds I can only say that the ilds moderators have not been moved to apologise to me for their permissive neglect in failing to censor a series of rapid and frenzied attacks on me by a prickly member.....moreover there has not been any guarantee that the situation would now be any different should similar events recur....naturally i am cautious to expose myself to another round of inappropriate and unnecessary abuse when there are so many unresolved issues flowing from the last, unchecked, abusive encounter....

Now that ricky pine has had time to restore his emotional equilibrium he is probably very keen to apologise not just to me but to the ilds group for his spiteful and vicious words which he now hopefully regrets commiting to print....furthermore it may be therapeutic for ricky to recount why he was not moved to say something to me on corfu....i have video footage of my impromptu speech delivered to an 'ambushed'-in the true spirit of LD's character-dsc white house luncheon party at kalami bay which includes the closing applause of all 20 present-including ricky....this paradox of why ricky was so polite and receptive to me in person on corfu and then to have him aggressively ridicule my contribution and my person days to weeks later on the ilds forum is puzzling two-faced enigma.

best wishes
DrD
---- Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote: 
> Thanks for the comment, Ilyas.  Yes, I think Dr. Durrell should be welcomed to join the discussions.  He has insights into Lawrence Durrell's spiritual side which often get overlooked but which Durrell himself held in great importance.
> 
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Ilyas <ilyas.khan at crosby.com>
> >Sent: May 22, 2008 6:50 AM
> >To: "Bruce Redwine , ilds at lists.uvic.ca" <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
> >Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
> >
> >Bruce I think it was one person in particular who attacked and you are  
> >right to note that the rest of us mostly remained silent. I don't  
> >enjoy our antipodean's messages or appreciate them as you do but I do  
> >think he was treated harshly. However if he won't join then that is  
> >his choice I guess. Are you suggesting we invite him back ?
> >
> >Sent from my iPhone
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds


From loisrees at yahoo.com  Thu May 22 18:06:15 2008
From: loisrees at yahoo.com (Lois Rees)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 18:06:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [ilds] caveat
In-Reply-To: <200805222126.m4MLQhLO12009478@cascara.comp.uvic.ca>
Message-ID: <321483.39975.qm@web44910.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>

Hi everyone

I am really amazed at Richard Pine's words which are abusive, factually wrong and dismissive of others' views.

For example I have found these two online references to Dr Durrell and they entirely rebut Pine's claim that Dr Durrell is a charlatan.

http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/80/0c03ce80.asp

http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/80/0c03ce80.asp

Or maybe a charlatan is simply someone who does not go along with the Pine jargon.  I have read Pine's Mindscape book and find it without intellectual or critical value.  It is nothing but long-winded assertion.

Lois Rees



richardpin at eircom.net wrote: There are 2 'll's in libellous. He is a charlatan. He claims to be a teacher at a Austrailian University whose website has no knowledge whatoever of his involvement in that branch 0f academe. I do not for one moment question his credentials as a practising doctor, but his involvemnt in our school exposed his serious deficiencies as both a medical doctor and  a reader of Lawrence Durrell.

Bruce Redwine 
, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:

<  
<  I recall that Dr. Durrell's professional qualifications were questioned and disparaged -- he was portrayed as a charlatan -- and that is libelous, as I understand the law.
<  
<  
<  Bruce
<  
<  
<  -----Original Message-----
<  >From: richardpin at eircom.net
<  >Sent: May 22, 2008 7:03 AM
<  >To: Bruce Redwine 
, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
<  >Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
<  >
<  >Bruce Redwine probably has me in mind when he refers to someone 'viciously libelling' Anthony Durrell. If A Durrell were to attempt to bring the alleged libel to court, there would be many witnesses to his apppalling behaviour in Corfu which would establish that my criticisms of him were not 'libellous' but completely factual. Bruce Redwine was not there. At least 20 people were, who, both personally and professionally (including 2 psychiatrists who are far superior in their professional skills than A Durrell), experienced his puerile and unprofessional conduct. He would lose his case. Vicious maybe - libellous NO. 
<  >RP
<  >
<  >Bruce Redwine 
, ilds at lists.uvic.ca wrote:
<  >
<  ><  
<  ><  I do not know why Anthony Durrell, MD, has not joined the ILDS, but he may have a good reason.  I recall that when he first posted messages over a year ago he was libeled viciously by one member of he ILDS and that was allowed to happen without any official condemnation.  I enjoy reading Dr. Durrell's infrequent communications and appreciate his unique views on his namesake and possible relative.
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  Bruce
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  -----Original Message-----
<  ><  >From: James Gifford 
<  ><  >Sent: May 21, 2008 10:51 PM
<  ><  >To: ILDS Listserv 
<  ><  >Subject: [ilds] caveat
<  ><  >
<  ><  >Hello all,
<  ><  >
<  ><  >I'm posting Anthony's latest "message" about Australia to the listserv 
<  ><  >with the caveat that he has not (and apparently will not) subscribe to 
<  ><  >the list, so if you are inclined to contact him, please do so off-list 
<  ><  >since he won't receive any responses you post here.
<  ><  >
<  ><  >Best,
<  ><  >James
<  ><  
<  ><  
<  ><  _______________________________________________
<  ><  ILDS mailing list
<  ><  ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
<  ><  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
<  ><  
<  >
<  >
<  >
<  >-----------------------------------------------------------------
<  >Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property
<  >Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts
<  >
<  >
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<  _______________________________________________
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<  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
<  



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From slighcl at wfu.edu  Thu May 22 18:34:06 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 21:34:06 -0400
Subject: [ilds] durrell-for-durrell's-sake
In-Reply-To: <11706651.1211499472407.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <11706651.1211499472407.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <48361F0E.8020508@wfu.edu>

Dear Listserv:

Please excuse my interruption of the latest /m?l?e/.  Flame-throwing is 
perhaps inevitable in this medium, but I can only wish that our group 
would be so quick and impassioned in addressing Durrell's words.

I propose that we take a break from the sniping.  Not much is proven by 
the exchange, and everyone tends to come out looking rather petty.

Instead, I would like to invite our group to propose a Durrellian work 
that would be interesting to explore and discuss on the listserv this 
summer.  What book would you like to revisit over an extended period? 

If I recall, David Green already has several books on his wishlist.  
What do you say, David?  Where should we go next?

Charles

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

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From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Fri May 23 01:26:44 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 02:26:44 -0600
Subject: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
In-Reply-To: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>

Nice eye, Bruce.  I don't think I've seen such an interpretation before, 
and there's merit in it.  My only problem would be the archly unromantic 
images of war from /Clea/ and the general turn away from the state or 
it's impositions in such works as /Prospero's Cell/, /Revolt of 
Aphrodite/, /Panic Spring/, and so forth.

How does /The Avignon Quintet/ stack up on this?  I'd quickly suggest 
that Sam doesn't follow in the footsteps of Keats, and militarism is 
generally deplored, but that's a very different period in his life.

I suppose that in general I've been increasingly looking to Durrell's 
anarchic life of the village against the over-determined life in the 
city, and I'd have to associate the soldiers with the city, though 
"daring-do" and messages by moonlight might come in other forms!  They 
also just make for good page turners when one is needed -- Scobie is 
hardly the kind of James Bond we'd expect to find...

Don Kaczvinsky gave a (possibly) related paper last year in Louisville 
on Durrell and Ian Fleming.  Don?

Best,
James

Bruce Redwine wrote:
> Bill, I believe you're onto something important.  I think you're right -- old LD had secret ambitions to be a soldier and do "derring-do."  He was clearly frustrated in that regard.  Some of his most sympathetic figures are soldiers or former soldiers, and here I'm thinking of Deeds in Sicilian Carousel and how the desert campaign makes a man of sniveling John Keats, reporter.
> 
> 
> Bruce
>    
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: william godshalk <godshawl at email.uc.edu>
>> Sent: May 22, 2008 1:03 PM
>> To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>> Subject: Re: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
>>
>> Perhaps our boy has been up to no good on dark and foggy nights in 
>> the Med. Blowing German cruisers. Darley's dive is a reminiscence of 
>> his special work for MI during the Big One.
>>
>>
>> At 03:41 PM 5/22/2008, you wrote:
>>> Lawrence Durrell???  That would be news.  If I'm not mistaken, W. 
>>> Stanley Moss in his Ill Met by Moonlight (1950), the first-hand 
>>> account of that famous British commando raid, makes no mention of 
>>> Lawrence Durrell, who, I believe, had nothing to do with British 
>>> military operations in WWII.  Waugh, Dahl, and Fermor did serve in 
>>> the British military.
>>>
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
>>>> Sent: May 22, 2008 11:46 AM
>>>> To: Durrell <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
>>>> Subject: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *Writers at War
>>>> Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 5/19/2008
>>>> *
>>>> Harmony exec editor John Glusman bought world rights to The Ariadne
>>>> Objective by Wes Davis via Neil Olson. It tells the story of British
>>>> Special Operations forces on Crete in WWII who, aided by the Greek
>>>> resistance, brazenly kidnapped the German general in command of land
>>>> forces, and stars some of the leading literary lights of the
>>>> day---Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh
>>>> Fermor. Davis served for three years as assistant to the director of
>>>> excavations at Kavousi in eastern Crete, just north of where SOE landed
>>>> supplies for this daring exploit. Publication is slated for 2011.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6561931.html?industryid=47146
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> ILDS mailing list
>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>> ***************************************
>> W. L. Godshalk		*
>> Department of English         *
>> University of Cincinnati            Stellar disorder  *
>> Cincinnati OH 45221-0069      *
>> 513-281-5927
>> ***************************************
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> ILDS mailing list
>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
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> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
> 

From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Fri May 23 09:08:15 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 12:08:15 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
Message-ID: <21563239.1211558896206.JavaMail.root@elwamui-ovcar.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

James, I'm glad you agree.  Seriously, Durrell and soldiering would be a worthy topic of an essay.  I think, for Durrell, the turning point came during the war.  I seem to recall reading somewhere he tried to enlist while in Greece but was rejected.  Like John Keats, reporter, the war was a formative experience for him.  Deeds, Col. ret., DSO, is a font of wisdom and sanity in Sicilian Carousel, which takes place around 1974.  The fact he's working in the "Allied Graves Commission," i.e., finding and registering British war dead twenty years after the fact is also significant, and, I think, tied in with Durrell's "dark side."  How many times do graves appear in Durrell's fiction? -- characters hang around them like the Egyptian "ba," the alter-ego of the dead that hangs around tombs.


Bruce
  

-----Original Message-----
>From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>Sent: May 23, 2008 4:26 AM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
>
>Nice eye, Bruce.  I don't think I've seen such an interpretation before, 
>and there's merit in it.  My only problem would be the archly unromantic 
>images of war from /Clea/ and the general turn away from the state or 
>it's impositions in such works as /Prospero's Cell/, /Revolt of 
>Aphrodite/, /Panic Spring/, and so forth.
>
>How does /The Avignon Quintet/ stack up on this?  I'd quickly suggest 
>that Sam doesn't follow in the footsteps of Keats, and militarism is 
>generally deplored, but that's a very different period in his life.
>
>I suppose that in general I've been increasingly looking to Durrell's 
>anarchic life of the village against the over-determined life in the 
>city, and I'd have to associate the soldiers with the city, though 
>"daring-do" and messages by moonlight might come in other forms!  They 
>also just make for good page turners when one is needed -- Scobie is 
>hardly the kind of James Bond we'd expect to find...
>
>Don Kaczvinsky gave a (possibly) related paper last year in Louisville 
>on Durrell and Ian Fleming.  Don?
>
>Best,
>James
>
>Bruce Redwine wrote:
>> Bill, I believe you're onto something important.  I think you're right -- old LD had secret ambitions to be a soldier and do "derring-do."  He was clearly frustrated in that regard.  Some of his most sympathetic figures are soldiers or former soldiers, and here I'm thinking of Deeds in Sicilian Carousel and how the desert campaign makes a man of sniveling John Keats, reporter.
>> 
>> 
>> Bruce
>>    
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: william godshalk <godshawl at email.uc.edu>
>>> Sent: May 22, 2008 1:03 PM
>>> To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] The Ariadne Objective
>>>
>>> Perhaps our boy has been up to no good on dark and foggy nights in 
>>> the Med. Blowing German cruisers. Darley's dive is a reminiscence of 
>>> his special work for MI during the Big One.
>>>
>>>
>>> At 03:41 PM 5/22/2008, you wrote:
>>>> Lawrence Durrell???  That would be news.  If I'm not mistaken, W. 
>>>> Stanley Moss in his Ill Met by Moonlight (1950), the first-hand 
>>>> account of that famous British commando raid, makes no mention of 
>>>> Lawrence Durrell, who, I believe, had nothing to do with British 
>>>> military operations in WWII.  Waugh, Dahl, and Fermor did serve in 
>>>> the British military.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Bruce


From slighcl at wfu.edu  Fri May 23 09:22:59 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 12:22:59 -0400
Subject: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
In-Reply-To: <48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>

On 5/23/2008 4:26 AM, James Gifford wrote:
>  My only problem would be the archly unromantic 
> images of war from /Clea/ and the general turn away from the state or 
> it's impositions in such works as /Prospero's Cell/, /Revolt of 
> Aphrodite/, /Panic Spring/, and so forth.
>   
> I suppose that in general I've been increasingly looking to Durrell's 
> anarchic life of the village against the over-determined life in the 
> city, and I'd have to associate the soldiers with the city, though 
> "daring-do" and messages by moonlight might come in other forms!  


Jamie:

My understanding of Durrell the writer and Durrell the man is that he 
was a Party of One and that he was deeply suspicious of most political 
causes and noble enterprises.  I would be terrifically surprised to find 
Durrell "joining up" for any other cause than the self-preservation and 
survival of the human being named Lawrence Durrell.  Durrell took 
positions as a public information officer and a press officer because 
those positions paid the bills, not because he found a sudden 
confirmation of his patriotic spirit.  And I do not think that Durrell's 
mistrust and skepticism and self-preserving instincts are negative 
qualities.  They are just not the qualities of a Loyalist, a Resistance 
member, or a soldier. 

I think that Durrell certainly could respect and admire remarkable 
/individuals /and the bravery of their particular exploits--Paddy Fermor 
comes to mind, obviously--but I would guess that Durrell would also 
instinctively mistrust and doubt the worth of the larger 
cause--liberating Crete, colonizing Palestine, &c.  In sum, the World 
being what it is, and human life being short and harsh and 
unpredictable, why delude and disappoint?--an Epicurean stance again, I 
think.

You offer some important moments from the writing.  I am also thinking 
of the end of /Prospero's Cell/.   The loss of Corfu is profoundly felt 
because it is /personally /felt.  The epilogue in Alex seems to capture 
Durrell's world view and politics in the 1940s and 1950s quite nicely.

But hats off to the biographical theorizing about Larry the Spy:  I am 
still looking forward to surprising revelations that overturn all of my 
old assumptions.  If Jan Morris is there with you on Corfu right now, 
ask her for her sense of where Durrell stood.  I would be delighted to 
hear a verdict from someone who actually worked for British Intelligence 
in WWII, back when she was known as James Morris.

Charles

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

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From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Fri May 23 02:31:12 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 03:31:12 -0600
Subject: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
In-Reply-To: <4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>
	<4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>
Message-ID: <48368EE0.4050204@gmail.com>

Nicely said, Charles.  I'm still trying to riddle my way through Old D's 
politics of the unpolitical, if I can use that phrase.  Something, 
however, seemed to change around 1956, and I'm not entirely sure of it. 
  Prior to that point, I'm surprised to see how fiercely he avoids the 
political, as if it is the source of the personal problems...

But, I remain puzzled.

Best,
J

slighcl wrote:
> On 5/23/2008 4:26 AM, James Gifford wrote:
>>  My only problem would be the archly unromantic 
>> images of war from /Clea/ and the general turn away from the state or 
>> it's impositions in such works as /Prospero's Cell/, /Revolt of 
>> Aphrodite/, /Panic Spring/, and so forth.
>>   
>> I suppose that in general I've been increasingly looking to Durrell's 
>> anarchic life of the village against the over-determined life in the 
>> city, and I'd have to associate the soldiers with the city, though 
>> "daring-do" and messages by moonlight might come in other forms!  
> 
> 
> Jamie:
> 
> My understanding of Durrell the writer and Durrell the man is that he 
> was a Party of One and that he was deeply suspicious of most political 
> causes and noble enterprises.  I would be terrifically surprised to find 
> Durrell "joining up" for any other cause than the self-preservation and 
> survival of the human being named Lawrence Durrell.  Durrell took 
> positions as a public information officer and a press officer because 
> those positions paid the bills, not because he found a sudden 
> confirmation of his patriotic spirit.  And I do not think that Durrell's 
> mistrust and skepticism and self-preserving instincts are negative 
> qualities.  They are just not the qualities of a Loyalist, a Resistance 
> member, or a soldier. 
> 
> I think that Durrell certainly could respect and admire remarkable 
> /individuals /and the bravery of their particular exploits--Paddy Fermor 
> comes to mind, obviously--but I would guess that Durrell would also 
> instinctively mistrust and doubt the worth of the larger 
> cause--liberating Crete, colonizing Palestine, &c.  In sum, the World 
> being what it is, and human life being short and harsh and 
> unpredictable, why delude and disappoint?--an Epicurean stance again, I 
> think.
> 
> You offer some important moments from the writing.  I am also thinking 
> of the end of /Prospero's Cell/.   The loss of Corfu is profoundly felt 
> because it is /personally /felt.  The epilogue in Alex seems to capture 
> Durrell's world view and politics in the 1940s and 1950s quite nicely.
> 
> But hats off to the biographical theorizing about Larry the Spy:  I am 
> still looking forward to surprising revelations that overturn all of my 
> old assumptions.  If Jan Morris is there with you on Corfu right now, 
> ask her for her sense of where Durrell stood.  I would be delighted to 
> hear a verdict from someone who actually worked for British Intelligence 
> in WWII, back when she was known as James Morris.
> 
> Charles
> 
> -- 
> **********************
> Charles L. Sligh
> Department of English
> Wake Forest University
> slighcl at wfu.edu
> **********************
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

From slighcl at wfu.edu  Fri May 23 19:01:02 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 22:01:02 -0400
Subject: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
In-Reply-To: <4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>
	<4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>
Message-ID: <483776DE.5050607@wfu.edu>

On 5/23/2008 12:22 PM, slighcl wrote:

>
> You offer some important moments from the writing.  I am also thinking 
> of the end of /Prospero's Cell/.   The loss of Corfu is profoundly 
> felt because it is /personally /felt.  The epilogue in Alex seems to 
> capture Durrell's world view and politics in the 1940s and 1950s quite 
> nicely 
Specifically, see for example Durrell's elaboration of  the "small 
private universe: a Greek universe":

        Inside that world, where the islands lie buried in smoke, where
        the cypresses spring from the tombs, they know that there is
        nothing to be said.  There is simply patience to be exercised. 
        Patience and endurance and love.

That, tempered by an underlying Epicurean self-interest and 
self-cultivation, I take to be Durrell's core ethic, 1945-1957.  What 
happened after?

In support of Bruce's attention to Durrell's views on soldiers and 
spies, I will also note that the "Epilogue in Alexandria" does find 
Durrell pondering different friends dispersed into different theatres of 
action.

A finely wrought 2 1/2 pages, all in all.  The fullest presage of the 
/Quartet/, I think.  Elegiac. Autumnal   Memorious. Very belated.

Charles

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Fri May 23 21:34:41 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 21:34:41 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] Violence and Disintegration
Message-ID: <17972884.1211603681697.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

"What happened after?" Charles Sligh asks.  A lot.  Sorry that I tend to emphasize the negative, but a lot of troubling things did happened.  All is not sweetness and light.  It's useful to read Brewster Chamberlin's instructive summary of those years in the 70s (A Chronology of the Life and Times of Lawrence Durrell:  Homme de Lettres), particularly the year 1974, when Chamberlin records alcoholism, the beating of Ghislaine, and the near break-up of his friendship with Miller.  And then we have Monsieur published in that same year, first novel of the Avignon Quintet, which is very dark indeed.  As Charles has mentioned before, we are witnessing the disintegration of a man.

I am particularly troubled by the accounts of Durrell's physical violence towards women.  I emphasize strongly that I do not by any means know all the facts, but there is some suggestive evidence that Durrell was abusive towards women.  In a recent ILDS posting, Fraser Wilson has noted the following passage from Eric Gifford's East of Athens (1939):  "Larry was short, blond and excitable . . . His wife was tall and slender, with handsome cats' eyes.  Being an ex-Slade student, she wore her straight, fair hair cut a la Trilby.  As her husband once remarked to me:  'You've no idea what an arty-arty little bitch Nancy was until I knocked her into shape.'"  I have Gifford's book.  The quote is accurate, on p. 139.  "Little bitch . . . knocked her into shape" -- what does all this mean?  And I don't take it as a metaphor, in view of subsequent events.  Eric Gifford's account is of course hearsay, but it fits a pattern confirmed in Durrell's latter years.

In sum, I don't see Durrell as espousing pacifist's views, political or otherwise, in view of how some of his personal relationships developed.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
>Sent: May 23, 2008 7:01 PM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
>
>On 5/23/2008 12:22 PM, slighcl wrote:
>
>>
>> You offer some important moments from the writing.  I am also thinking 
>> of the end of /Prospero's Cell/.   The loss of Corfu is profoundly 
>> felt because it is /personally /felt.  The epilogue in Alex seems to 
>> capture Durrell's world view and politics in the 1940s and 1950s quite 
>> nicely 
>Specifically, see for example Durrell's elaboration of  the "small 
>private universe: a Greek universe":
>
>        Inside that world, where the islands lie buried in smoke, where
>        the cypresses spring from the tombs, they know that there is
>        nothing to be said.  There is simply patience to be exercised. 
>        Patience and endurance and love.
>
>That, tempered by an underlying Epicurean self-interest and 
>self-cultivation, I take to be Durrell's core ethic, 1945-1957.  What 
>happened after?
>
>In support of Bruce's attention to Durrell's views on soldiers and 
>spies, I will also note that the "Epilogue in Alexandria" does find 
>Durrell pondering different friends dispersed into different theatres of 
>action.
>
>A finely wrought 2 1/2 pages, all in all.  The fullest presage of the 
>/Quartet/, I think.  Elegiac. Autumnal   Memorious. Very belated.
>
>Charles



From delospeter at hotmail.com  Fri May 23 22:43:19 2008
From: delospeter at hotmail.com (PETER BALDWIN)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 05:43:19 +0000
Subject: [ilds] durrell-for-durrell's-sake
In-Reply-To: <48361F0E.8020508@wfu.edu>
References: <11706651.1211499472407.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<48361F0E.8020508@wfu.edu>
Message-ID: <BLU102-W19F38C26A68F77F9371160C8C00@phx.gbl>


I agree Charles - the exchange makes me feel jittery but as a lawyer I get jittery at too many things!!
 
I suggest Prospero's Cell - how much was made up? Why would D want to recreate this time with Nancy so soon after their separation? Which, despite that, is it the most idealised of D's island books? What did D find so appealing about Greece/Corfu which helped him discover himself? Why should a young, newly married aspiring writer head for what was the very remote place so far from access to the literary world where he could at least try to sell apprentice work?
 
Peter baldwin
 
You'll all have better questions than I can put together so spontaneously.


Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 21:34:06 -0400From: slighcl at wfu.eduTo: ilds at lists.uvic.caSubject: [ilds] durrell-for-durrell's-sake
Dear Listserv:Please excuse my interruption of the latest m?l?e.  Flame-throwing is perhaps inevitable in this medium, but I can only wish that our group would be so quick and impassioned in addressing Durrell's words.I propose that we take a break from the sniping.  Not much is proven by the exchange, and everyone tends to come out looking rather petty.Instead, I would like to invite our group to propose a Durrellian work that would be interesting to explore and discuss on the listserv this summer.  What book would you like to revisit over an extended period?  If I recall, David Green already has several books on his wishlist.  What do you say, David?  Where should we go next?Charles-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************
_________________________________________________________________
Great deals on almost anything at eBay.co.uk. Search, bid, find and win on eBay today!
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From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Fri May 23 20:02:45 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 21:02:45 -0600
Subject: [ilds] Violence and Disintegration
In-Reply-To: <17972884.1211603681697.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <17972884.1211603681697.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <48378555.1020809@gmail.com>

Bruce,

Well, there's a lot in there, but I agree with Charles that a turn to 
/Prospero's Cell/ might be a worthwhile endeavour.  A month from now, 
I'll be suggesting /Panic Spring/...

But, I am troubled by at least one critical move you make in your posting.

> I don't see Durrell as espousing pacifist's 
> views, political or otherwise, in view of how 
> some of his personal relationships developed.

I understand the Percy Shelley loved shooting...  Churchill was 
something of a drunk, and where would we even start with Ghandi's women 
and caste?  Do you really mean that an individual's marital/sexual 
relationships (let's lump them all together and take an average sum) are 
so important to you that you'd then say you prefer to ignore anything 
else he espoused at politically significant moments?  An author can 
never produce something finer that his/her own life?  That strikes me as 
the biography not only overshadowing the text but eclipsing it -- 
there's a place for that, in biographies, but I must admit that as a 
reader I'm more interested in the texts themselves.

I find the political critique of Empire in /Pied Piper of Lovers/ quite 
clear.  Likewise, /Panic Spring/ demonstrates a turn away from politics 
in a manner I'm inclined to read as very loosely akin to a politics of 
the unpolitical.  Likewise, writing his landscape poetry in the midst of 
war shows a decidedly personal turn that the New Apocalypse poets saw in 
expressly political terms (see G.S. Fraser's work on that, though not in 
his Durrell book -- Durrell peers at the time certainly don't see his 
choices as without a politics).  Durrell also says as much in a letter 
to Alex Comfort as well, in relation to Comfort's anarchist politics.

At any rate, Durrell was never terribly shy of publishing in political 
venues -- he just turns away from politics in a way that is decidedly 
political.  He even asked to not have his works appear in anthologies 
that have an express political goal; yet, he gladly sent materials for 
publication in anarchist periodicals at the same time.  As I've noted in 
my edition of the Herbert Read - Henry Miller letters, he even 
articulates his first comments on the Heraldic Universe in direct 
response to Read's most political speech at the 1936 London 
International Surrealist Exhibition (at that point a very Communist 
speech, prior to Read's development of his anarchist thought).  That 
letter makes more sense when you realize he was writing to Miller in 
reaction to Miller's forwarding to him several political letters and 
print materials from Read.  In other words, the personal position he 
adopted is taken up as a direct and overt rebuttal of state-oriented 
political action that values the community over the individual.

But, what I'm really interested in, Bruce, is what this does to your 
reading of an actual text.  I would like to hear more about that.  Can 
you bring it to /Prospero's Cell/?  I think he's hiding much by that 
point, so I would genuinely look forward to rehashing the discussion (at 
some later date) in relation to one of his previous novels, which I 
think are less apt at hiding things.  Still, it would give us a good run.

I should also add, we'll surely have some great debate about Durrell's 
sources for the text, and I've just cancelled my trip into Athens, which 
was going to include a fast visit to the Gennadius -- on my first trip 
there, I discovered Durrell had expressly requested a series of books 
from the Gennadius (not a lending library) in order to finish his work 
on a text he was then writing about Corfu, which is clearly /Prospero's 
Cell/.  They glued the letter into the back endpapers of the first 
edition of /Prospero's Cell/ and promptly forgot they had it...  This 
was, however, 8 years ago and my transcription has vanished.  But, this 
letter did not overlap perfectly with the bibliography (the one that 
includes Atkinson at the end of /Prospero's Cell/).  I wonder what else 
it might point us to.  Is anyone on the list conveniently in Athens?

Bruce and I will strongly disagree about /how/ Atkinson is used, though 
I think we can mutually endeavour to show /where/ she's used.  Let's see 
if that's productive.

I'll see if the White House in Kalami reveals any secrets this evening. 
  Alas, I don't think many papers are bound to fall out from the rafters 
at this stage in the game.

Best,
James

ps: I've consulted the author with regard to your thoughts on the 
Chronology and its suggestions around 1974, and he believes you're 
reading contrary to his intentions...  Are you now a strong reader 
Bruce?  I hope so -- that might lead to some very exciting things.

Bruce Redwine wrote:
> "What happened after?" Charles Sligh asks.  A lot.  

From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Fri May 23 20:41:18 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 21:41:18 -0600
Subject: [ilds] Durrell's Derring-do
In-Reply-To: <483776DE.5050607@wfu.edu>
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>	<4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>
	<483776DE.5050607@wfu.edu>
Message-ID: <48378E5E.8090403@gmail.com>

Hi Charles,

All very interesting here.  In particular, I like this quotation:

> Inside that world, where the islands lie buried in smoke, where
> the cypresses spring from the tombs, they know that there is
> nothing to be said.  There is simply patience to be exercised. 
> Patience and endurance and love.

I think you're evaluation of it is correct:

> That, tempered by an underlying Epicurean self-interest 
> and self-cultivation, I take to be Durrell's core ethic, 
> 1945-1957.  What happened after?

In conjunction with your note that the Epilogue finds Durrell "pondering 
different friends dispersed into different theatres of action," I can't 
help but notice the suggestive nature of the language.

I believe (someone please check since I might have my dates wrong), 
Durrell had already published a short piece in which he asserts the 
White House has been bombed and the Shrine of Saint Arsenius blasted by 
a mine.  That's not true, but it does show how we wished to portray the 
war.  Adding to that "islands lie buried in smoke" and "cypresses spring 
from the tombs," I don't think it's any interpretive intervention to 
suggest Durrell is portraying the desolation of war in the most poetical 
terms he can muster.  A poet can only write while the soldiers die and 
paradise burns, leaving the flora to feed off the remains while he 
friends fight in North Africa, etc...  He may be turning to the private 
world, but that is not an act devoid of its politics.  Its politics 
spring precisely from his statement "There is simply patience to be 
exercised.  Patience and endurance and love."

Is that sensible?  I think it goes some way to explaining why the New 
Apocalypse poets (highly political, semi-anarchist servicemen) would 
describe Durrell as being on the extreme far Left as "a brilliant 
visionary of defeatism."  The war is never far from his writings at this 
time, but it's never the point of the writings either -- the poetry 
reflect the personal rather than enacting an intervention into the 
social.  I think he tried the latter later in life (with some hesitation 
and some revisions), but certainly not in the early years.

Do those comments draw us to the text in any way?  I wonder how we would 
read the opening of /prospero's Cell/ with the ending in mind.  I'm also 
not sure how we would reconcile his earlier work on the book while on 
Kalamata (based on my past digging in the Gennadius Library) with his 
later completion of it in Egypt.

As Jay Brigham notes in a notebook held in Victoria, Durrell lost much 
of his notebook materials when fleeing Greece, such that he had to copy 
"In Arcadia" out of John Waller's /Kingdom Come/ when Waller visited 
Egypt.  I wonder how much of /Prospero's Cell/ vanished and was 
reconstituted.  I'd suspect he began it in Greece, at the latest on 
Kalamata, but only compiled and finished it in Egypt, perhaps rewriting 
the entire work.

Best,
Jamie

From slighcl at wfu.edu  Sat May 24 06:05:12 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 09:05:12 -0400
Subject: [ilds] "this is not a war book"
In-Reply-To: <48378E5E.8090403@gmail.com>
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>	<4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>	<483776DE.5050607@wfu.edu>
	<48378E5E.8090403@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <48381288.70404@wfu.edu>

On 5/23/2008 11:41 PM, James Gifford wrote:
>
> I believe (someone please check since I might have my dates wrong), 
> Durrell had already published a short piece in which he asserts the 
> White House has been bombed and the Shrine of Saint Arsenius blasted by 
> a mine.  That's not true, but it does show how we wished to portray the 
> war.  Adding to that "islands lie buried in smoke" and "cypresses spring 
> from the tombs," I don't think it's any interpretive intervention to 
> suggest Durrell is portraying the desolation of war in the most poetical 
> terms he can muster.  
I mentioned that for me the "Epilogue in Alexandria" in /Prospero's 
Cell/ seems to be the strongest "presage" or premonition of the 
prose-poem style and narrative attitude I find in those opening episodes 
of /Justine/.  A ruined house.  A smashed cutter.  I sit here like 
Odysseus on the sand, looking back there, where I am not.  Many things 
and many people lost, buried, amputated.  A loss that smarts like a 
phantom limb.  Melissa!

*****
> The war is never far from his writings at this 
> time, but it's never the point of the writings either -- the poetry 
> reflect the personal rather than enacting an intervention into the 
> social.  I think he tried the latter later in life (with some hesitation 
> and some revisions), but certainly not in the early years.
So at the question "where is the war in the books?" I recall now the 
opening lines of one of the Ur-Justines at the BL, one of those aborted 
notebooks that Durrell put into a drawer, setting it aside for discovery 
later:

> The concussions of a recent bombardment (this is not
>
> a war book) which had blackened the muzzles of
>
> the 15-inch guns, shattered crockery in its racks,
>
> and shaken down cockroaches from their hiding-
>
> places behind pipes and bulkheads, still hung about
>
> the airless ships' quarters in which Faber found
>
> himself.  The air was still full of dust.  Fragments of
>
> paper trembled in the corners of the room as the
>
> tepid gusts of the fan touched them.  It was
>
> remarkable to be feeling so ill.  The doctor, whose
>
> height gave him a stoop, looked not unlike
>
> an angle-shot from a German film, as he stood
>
> in the doorway of the cabin.  Like all naval men he
>
> gave the impression of having been sold into slavery
>
> as a boy.  Only the excessive probity of his professional
>
> status held his curiosity in check:  for a sick civilian
>
> aboard a warship in wartime is not a usual sight*.  *
>





-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sat May 24 09:40:13 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 09:40:13 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] A Chronology of the Life and Times of Lawrence Durrell
Message-ID: <18661362.1211647213808.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

James,

I have not misrepresented what Brewster Chamberlin writes for the year 1974 in Durrell's life.  I don't know what Chamberlin's intentions are, but he records excessive drinking, physical and verbal abuse of a woman, and problems with Miller stemming from the latter.  I would call someone who drinks more than a bottle of wine a day an alcoholic, and I believe medical doctors would too.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>Sent: May 23, 2008 8:02 PM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] Violence and Disintegration
>>
>ps: I've consulted the author with regard to your thoughts on the 
>Chronology and its suggestions around 1974, and he believes you're 
>reading contrary to his intentions...  Are you now a strong reader 
>Bruce?  I hope so -- that might lead to some very exciting things.



From dtart at bigpond.net.au  Sat May 24 14:25:48 2008
From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 07:25:48 +1000
Subject: [ilds] Gidgeon of Rhodes
Message-ID: <003001c8bde4$bc7c1220$0201a8c0@MumandDad>

Well, it has been a lively few days on the list - quelle maleur! Maybe A. Durrell and R. Pine should should seek out a riverside meadow and exchange shots with a potato gun or some such. I am sure the good doctor could dig out his odd coloured shoes for the occassion. 

Charles, I am flattered that you ask for my suggestions as to where to go next with discussions of Durrell's work. I have been thinking of Reflections of a Marine Venus as, to me, this is Durrell's happiest island book - untainted by the nostalgia of Prospero's Cell or the bitter politics of Bitter Lemons. 

In letters to friends describing his new island, he wrote passages of such lyrical rapture that they gave the impression of being sketches for his projected book.    - Bowker 165

Here in Marine Venus is Durrell back on a beautiful Greek island with a great cast of eccentric English gents including one of my favourite, Gidgeon.
although Durrell generally disliked the mindless military establishment and often aimed blows at it, (Scobie the transvestite / Scobie the British commander in Greece) the Character of Gidgeon is painted in a kindly light; after an initial prejudice

"Gigeon Stood among a cluster of egngineers and seamen, abstractly reading a book. I recall thinking to myself that he looked the personification of orthodoxy: the monicle, the clipped silver air, the polished boots... if I were to spend 24 hours in his company, I thought, I should undoubtedly spend them in politely deffering to judgements based on popular prejudice....His rather obvious glass eye regarded the world from time to time with what seemed to me like a somewhat boorish indifference.."  (Marine Venus p 3)

In Gidgeon's case appearances turn out to be deceiving. Comment on Gideon - the name itself is paradoxical.

David Green






Denise Tart & David Green
16 William Street, Marrickville NSW 2204

+61 2 9564 6165
0412 707 625
dtart at bigpond.net.au
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From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Sat May 24 07:54:49 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 08:54:49 -0600
Subject: [ilds] A Chronology of the Life and Times of Lawrence Durrell
In-Reply-To: <18661362.1211647213808.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <18661362.1211647213808.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <48382C39.5000005@gmail.com>

Bruce,

Yes, but when did I say otherwise?  Your comments on alcoholism are new 
(though not new news!), so they're a rather paltry rhetorical strategy, 
and everything Brewster lists that you comment on has been around for 
more than a decade in the biographies and 20 years now in the letters. 
It simply isn't anything we all didn't already know, though it's kind to 
give Brewster the tip of the hat (he's done fine work, and it would be 
nice to see his book circulating more widely).

But, the real query is, are you trying to say that you would prefer to 
pretend Durrell's publishing record with regard to political issues is 
best ignored by readers because he later drank a great deal?  You and I 
both know that's false logic.  There are a great many reasons you could 
disagree with my take on Durrell's politics, and I'd be greatly pleased 
to hear them, especially since they might be right, but the fact that he 
drank too much in 1974 really has nothing to do with it...  It's also 
well-established that his working strategy at that period was to write 
from the very early morning and then drink away the rest of the day -- 
the alcoholism doesn't impact the prose and writing the way it does 
with, say, a Malcolm Lowry or James Joyce, though it's an obvious factor.

But, apart from all that, glasses with a terribly kind mavrodaphne were 
raised this evening in Kalami.  I hope California heard the echo of the 
glasses.

Best,
James

Bruce Redwine wrote:
> James,
> 
> I have not misrepresented what Brewster Chamberlin writes for the year 1974 in Durrell's life.  I don't know what Chamberlin's intentions are, but he records excessive drinking, physical and verbal abuse of a woman, and problems with Miller stemming from the latter.  I would call someone who drinks more than a bottle of wine a day an alcoholic, and I believe medical doctors would too.
> 
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>> Sent: May 23, 2008 8:02 PM
>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Violence and Disintegration
>> ps: I've consulted the author with regard to your thoughts on the 
>> Chronology and its suggestions around 1974, and he believes you're 
>> reading contrary to his intentions...  Are you now a strong reader 
>> Bruce?  I hope so -- that might lead to some very exciting things.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
> 

From slighcl at wfu.edu  Sat May 24 15:11:43 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 18:11:43 -0400
Subject: [ilds] Life and Times
In-Reply-To: <48382C39.5000005@gmail.com>
References: <18661362.1211647213808.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<48382C39.5000005@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4838929F.3020609@wfu.edu>

On 5/24/2008 10:54 AM, James Gifford wrote:

>
> But, apart from all that, glasses with a terribly kind mavrodaphne were 
> raised this evening in Kalami.  
It is indeed very mete, right, and our bounden duty that we should at 
all times in the place called Kalami raise glass and give thanks. . . .

But that language is of a simpler moment when belief was possible. 

Do you have proof of the strong-proofing and other carrying on in 
Kerkira, Jamie?  We here back across the oceans would benefit from your 
digital photos. 

C&c.

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************



From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sat May 24 15:24:44 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 15:24:44 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] A Chronology of the Life and Times of Lawrence Durrell
Message-ID: <2840224.1211667885193.JavaMail.root@elwamui-karabash.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

James,

I refer to your postscript and your innuendo that I distorted Chamberlin's "intentions."  Since you don't express yourself clearly and often prefer to rely on ellipses, it's hard to figure out what you intend.  I don't have a "rhetorical strategy."  I'd simply like to know or get at the relationship between a writer's personal life and the books he wrote.  Not everyone on this list has read, as you apparently have, all the letters and biographical materials available on Durrell, and it's patronizing to suggest that thorough knowledge of that background is prerequisite to any discussion of Lawrence Durrell, man and writer.  If only "new" information on LD is sought, then the ILDS should restrict itself to a coterie of scholars with the appropriate credentials.  I find Durrell's abusive behavior disturbing, which is not "new," but I also sense that it is a topic considered off-bounds by the moderators of this list.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>Sent: May 24, 2008 7:54 AM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] A Chronology of the Life and Times of Lawrence Durrell
>
>Bruce,
>
>Yes, but when did I say otherwise?  Your comments on alcoholism are new 
>(though not new news!), so they're a rather paltry rhetorical strategy, 
>and everything Brewster lists that you comment on has been around for 
>more than a decade in the biographies and 20 years now in the letters. 
>It simply isn't anything we all didn't already know, though it's kind to 
>give Brewster the tip of the hat (he's done fine work, and it would be 
>nice to see his book circulating more widely).
>
>But, the real query is, are you trying to say that you would prefer to 
>pretend Durrell's publishing record with regard to political issues is 
>best ignored by readers because he later drank a great deal?  You and I 
>both know that's false logic.  There are a great many reasons you could 
>disagree with my take on Durrell's politics, and I'd be greatly pleased 
>to hear them, especially since they might be right, but the fact that he 
>drank too much in 1974 really has nothing to do with it...  It's also 
>well-established that his working strategy at that period was to write 
>from the very early morning and then drink away the rest of the day -- 
>the alcoholism doesn't impact the prose and writing the way it does 
>with, say, a Malcolm Lowry or James Joyce, though it's an obvious factor.
>
>But, apart from all that, glasses with a terribly kind mavrodaphne were 
>raised this evening in Kalami.  I hope California heard the echo of the 
>glasses.
>
>Best,
>James
>
>Bruce Redwine wrote:
>> James,
>> 
>> I have not misrepresented what Brewster Chamberlin writes for the year 1974 in Durrell's life.  I don't know what Chamberlin's intentions are, but he records excessive drinking, physical and verbal abuse of a woman, and problems with Miller stemming from the latter.  I would call someone who drinks more than a bottle of wine a day an alcoholic, and I believe medical doctors would too.
>> 
>> 
>> Bruce
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: May 23, 2008 8:02 PM
>>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Violence and Disintegration
>>> ps: I've consulted the author with regard to your thoughts on the 
>>> Chronology and its suggestions around 1974, and he believes you're 
>>> reading contrary to his intentions...  Are you now a strong reader 
>>> Bruce?  I hope so -- that might lead to some very exciting things.
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> ILDS mailing list
>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>> 
>_______________________________________________
>ILDS mailing list
>ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds


From dtart at bigpond.net.au  Sat May 24 20:55:31 2008
From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 13:55:31 +1000
Subject: [ilds] Durrell and drink
Message-ID: <003601c8be1b$2e1965f0$0201a8c0@MumandDad>

Bruce,

My doctor would certainly say that drinking more than one of bottle of wine a day is alcoholism - that's why I never go to see her!

Durrell claimed he drank 4 to 5 pints of wine a day or in metric speak 2 - 2.8 litres. 
This is about 3 and half standard aussie wine bottles or 24.5 standard Australian drinks. The Aussie Medical Association recomends no more than 4 standard drinks per day.  He and big Gerad Depardieu would have got on fine. Gerad is a three bottle man on a light day.

As to whether the demon effected his writing. Well, I know that if I drank nearly four bottles of wine in a day, I wouldn't feel much like writing the next day. I wouldn't feel much like anything really - except sermons and soda water to quote Lord Byron

Durrell had the constitution of an ox.

Anyway, you not an alcoholic until you go the meeting - Queenland Saying

David Green

Denise Tart & David Green
16 William Street, Marrickville NSW 2204

+61 2 9564 6165
0412 707 625
dtart at bigpond.net.au
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From dtart at bigpond.net.au  Sat May 24 21:42:29 2008
From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 14:42:29 +1000
Subject: [ilds] caveat
References: <321483.39975.qm@web44910.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <005e01c8be21$bdf41f70$0201a8c0@MumandDad>

For example I have found these two online references to Dr Durrell and they entirely rebut Pine's claim that Dr Durrell is a charlatan. - Lois Rees

Lois,

Thanks for going into bat for the good doctor. Dr Anthony Durrell is known to me. We have met several times. He is known as 'Doctor Mood' and works out of Macquarue Street Sydney, which is our equivalent of Harley Street in London. In other words he is a top notch psychologist. He is also an amusing, erudite companion with a great knowledge of eastern mysticism, the writings of both Durrells and a healthy libido for wine and the fair sex. He also has a highly developed sense of the piss-take, an expression that will be familiar to English and Australian readers but maybe not be a term used in The United States of Everything. Loosely translated it means to cleverly deflate the pompous, pretentious and overbearing either by word or deed in a largely harmless way. Before meeting Dr Mood, I was very nervous. I was expecting someone in buddist clothing wearing shoes of different colours, but instead I met a stocky Durrell looking man in a well cut pinstripe suit of superior quality, polished shoes of one colour, smart tie and indeed all the hallmarks of a proper doctor. If Dr D is a charlatan, then we all are. I must stop posing as a half decent school teacher

David Green

Denise Tart & David Green
16 William Street, Marrickville NSW 2204

+61 2 9564 6165
0412 707 625
dtart at bigpond.net.au
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From dtart at bigpond.net.au  Sat May 24 21:58:47 2008
From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 14:58:47 +1000
Subject: [ilds] "this is not a war book"
References: <15046160.1211488999852.JavaMail.root@elwamui-little.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<48367FC4.4070503@gmail.com>	<4836EF63.7000904@wfu.edu>	<483776DE.5050607@wfu.edu><48378E5E.8090403@gmail.com>
	<48381288.70404@wfu.edu>
Message-ID: <007101c8be24$04a79210$0201a8c0@MumandDad>

No one who lived through the the 1930s and 40s in close proximity to the great conflict of World War Two; the largest most destructive war in world history, can have failed to be affected by this catasthrophe. The war drove Durrell out of Corfu. He was sent to war shattered Rhodes, well depicted in Reflections on a Marine Venus. He experienced it in Cyprus. He was haunted by the prospect of atomic war - as many of my generation were (I was born in 1959). While Durrell was probably not all that keen to be  soldier, he certainly enjoyed the looseness of wartime Cairo/Alexandria 1939 - 45; the relaxed morals, the drink, the characters bold, beautiful and horrible that are thrown up by war.

When first sent to Rhodes Durrell "missed the companionship of poets, desperadoes and under cover agents passing through wartime Egypt."

Post war Rhodes seems like a good topic to me.

DG

Denise Tart & David Green
16 William Street, Marrickville NSW 2204

+61 2 9564 6165
0412 707 625
dtart at bigpond.net.au
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: slighcl 
  To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca 
  Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2008 11:05 PM
  Subject: [ilds] "this is not a war book"


  On 5/23/2008 11:41 PM, James Gifford wrote:


I believe (someone please check since I might have my dates wrong), 
Durrell had already published a short piece in which he asserts the 
White House has been bombed and the Shrine of Saint Arsenius blasted by 
a mine.  That's not true, but it does show how we wished to portray the 
war.  Adding to that "islands lie buried in smoke" and "cypresses spring 
from the tombs," I don't think it's any interpretive intervention to 
suggest Durrell is portraying the desolation of war in the most poetical 
terms he can muster.  I mentioned that for me the "Epilogue in Alexandria" in Prospero's Cell seems to be the strongest "presage" or premonition of the prose-poem style and narrative attitude I find in those opening episodes of Justine.  A ruined house.  A smashed cutter.  I sit here like Odysseus on the sand, looking back there, where I am not.  Many things and many people lost, buried, amputated.  A loss that smarts like a phantom limb.  Melissa!

  *****

The war is never far from his writings at this 
time, but it's never the point of the writings either -- the poetry 
reflect the personal rather than enacting an intervention into the 
social.  I think he tried the latter later in life (with some hesitation 
and some revisions), but certainly not in the early years.So at the question "where is the war in the books?" I recall now the opening lines of one of the Ur-Justines at the BL, one of those aborted notebooks that Durrell put into a drawer, setting it aside for discovery later:


    The concussions of a recent bombardment (this is not

    a war book) which had blackened the muzzles of

    the 15-inch guns, shattered crockery in its racks,

    and shaken down cockroaches from their hiding-

    places behind pipes and bulkheads, still hung about

    the airless ships' quarters in which Faber found

    himself.  The air was still full of dust.  Fragments of

    paper trembled in the corners of the room as the

    tepid gusts of the fan touched them.  It was

    remarkable to be feeling so ill.  The doctor, whose

    height gave him a stoop, looked not unlike

    an angle-shot from a German film, as he stood

    in the doorway of the cabin.  Like all naval men he

    gave the impression of having been sold into slavery

    as a boy.  Only the excessive probity of his professional

    status held his curiosity in check:  for a sick civilian

    aboard a warship in wartime is not a usual sight.  







-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  ILDS mailing list
  ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
  https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
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From dtart at bigpond.net.au  Sat May 24 23:11:52 2008
From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 16:11:52 +1000
Subject: [ilds] DR DURRELL
References: <200805222126.m4MLQhLj12886020@cascara.comp.uvic.ca>
Message-ID: <00fa01c8be2e$3a3739d0$0201a8c0@MumandDad>

Dr Anthony Durrell

Dr Anthony Durrell is currently in private practice in Macquarie Street 
Sydney and the South Coast Region of the Illawarra with interests in 
Forensic Psychiatry, Mood Disorders, Neuropathology research and 
Schizophrenia Neuropsychiatry.

Other areas of professional interest for Dr Durrell include Preventitive 
Psychiatry and Art Therapy and formulating Psychoeducation programs for GP's, 
Adults and children.

Moreover, Dr Durrell is director of the Mood School, which provides 
interactive Emotional Education programs aimed at prevention of mental 
illness and maintenance of healthy moods.

Dr Durrell graduated from Sydney University, Sydney in 1989 with Honors in 
Medicine.

Dr Durrell went on to complete his Psychiatry training in Sydney and was 
elected a Fellow of the Royal Australian New Zealand college of Psychiatry 
in 1996.

During his psychiatry training Dr Durrell studied complimented his study of 
the mind with an additional 2 years in the fields of Accredited training 
with the Royal College of Australian Pathologists in the fields of General 
Pathology and Neuropathology.

In 1994 he was appointed Associate Lecturer in Pathology at the University 
of Sydney. During this year Dr Durrell researched the Molecular 
Neuropathology of Schizophrenia in association with the N.I.S.A.D. 
organization.

In 1999 Dr Durrell completed the Post Graduate Forensic Psychiatry course at 
the NSW Institute of Psychiatry.

Denise Tart & David Green
16 William Street, Marrickville NSW 2204



From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Sat May 24 18:34:00 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 19:34:00 -0600
Subject: [ilds] DR DURRELL
In-Reply-To: <00fa01c8be2e$3a3739d0$0201a8c0@MumandDad>
References: <200805222126.m4MLQhLj12886020@cascara.comp.uvic.ca>
	<00fa01c8be2e$3a3739d0$0201a8c0@MumandDad>
Message-ID: <4838C208.1070308@gmail.com>

Might I suggest this topic politely die?  Richard and Anthony clearly do 
not like each other, and they likely have very good reasons for that. 
Further discussion has very little to do with the majority of members' 
interests in being on the list and is unlikely to lead us to fruitful 
discussion, especially since a large part of the exchange is aimed at 
escalation rather than communication.  Moreover, Anthony Durrell is not 
a member of this list, by his own preference, so I see little spirit of 
fair play in moving it forward.

I for one, take the position of not caring one way or the other.

We do, however, have two proposals to begin some discussion of 
/Prospero's Cell/ or /Reflections on a Marine Venus/.  Perhaps our 
energies can be put to better use.

Cheers,
James

From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Sat May 24 19:00:55 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 20:00:55 -0600
Subject: [ilds] A Chronology of the Life and Times of Lawrence Durrell
In-Reply-To: <2840224.1211667885193.JavaMail.root@elwamui-karabash.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <2840224.1211667885193.JavaMail.root@elwamui-karabash.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <4838C857.9000808@gmail.com>

Hi Bruce,

Perhaps I can express myself more clearly, and I certainly to do not 
advocate for any kind of limited group or coterie.  I do, however, love 
the ellipsis...  It provides the reader a point of entry for his or her 
own needs.

My query is based on your movement between multiple and distinct issues, 
eliding them in your argumentative series.  So, yes, Old D drank a very 
great deal in 1974, but I frankly see no relationship between that and 
his political views in the 1930s or 40s.  It's a non sequitur that 
carries emotive value, and it stops us from getting at what is likely a 
very fine point in your initial argument.  I want to get back to those 
points rather than rolling down a litany of character assassinations or 
shots at sainthood, neither of which make me feel much different at the 
end of the day.  I don't read a book wondering if I'd like the author -- 
I don't like most authors...

As for avoiding Durrell's poorer points as a human being, I again don't 
advocate for any such thing, but if you're content to list the many 
reasons why you don't like the man, it seems unfulfilling to dedicate 
such energy to a project that I don't think will lead to anything 
productive.  Where, for instance, do you see the drink interfering with 
the writing -- I agree that it does in the later works, though there are 
also many things I like about the 70s through 80s writing that might be 
a product of his problems.  In either case, simply stating he drank too 
much doesn't lead us anywhere, especially since it really is quite 
generally known...  I wouldn't expect everyone to know he published in 
anarchist rags, but saying he drank and his last marriage was pretty bad 
on both sides -- well, that's like saying Shelley didn't like the water. 
  I wouldn't want to discourage anyone who hadn't already known that, 
but I take it for granted that the large majority do.

By way of contrast, Lois Rees has made several postings to the listserv 
but has so far avoided answering any questions or responding to anything 
that might be productive, even though she might have something grand to 
contribute.  It's something like, "I don't like this person so no one 
should read him," which degenerates rapidly and does not foster an 
ongoing discussion, or "I'm giving silly references and calling people 
names to provoke them," which again leads no where.  Most listservs call 
such such things a "troll."  The troll looks for a chance to provoke 
people to behave badly, but the troll contributes little.  *Your* 
propositions are far, far more interesting, and I certainly do not need 
to like them to find them engaging.  The debate over Horace, for 
instance, I liked very much and found useful, even though we only grew 
more distant in our readings.  I disagree with your reading, but I find 
it highly productive.

So, again, I say your suggestion that I insist on the "new" is a non 
sequitur.  When I said you'd provided a false lead, you immediate 
switched tracks and said "well, he was an alcoholic!" which is again 
quite far from discussing pacificism in the 1930s and 40s.  It's a new 
topic in your discussion, but certainly isn't new for the list or for 
the critical and biographical materials.  Not everything needs to be 
new, but it's still a non sequitur, and I would very much like to get 
back to your initial contention.  How do we read Durrell politically in 
the 30s and 40s?  That might be a very productive thing over which we 
can disagree!

But, that said, /Monsieur/ is probably my favourite Durrell work, so if 
that's on the table, I know where my vote goes...  Is 1974 your year of 
choice?

Best,
Jamie

Bruce Redwine wrote:
> James,
> 
> I refer to your postscript and your innuendo that I distorted Chamberlin's "intentions."  Since you don't express yourself clearly and often prefer to rely on ellipses, it's hard to figure out what you intend.  I don't have a "rhetorical strategy."  I'd simply like to know or get at the relationship between a writer's personal life and the books he wrote.  Not everyone on this list has read, as you apparently have, all the letters and biographical materials available on Durrell, and it's patronizing to suggest that thorough knowledge of that background is prerequisite to any discussion of Lawrence Durrell, man and writer.  If only "new" information on LD is sought, then the ILDS should restrict itself to a coterie of scholars with the appropriate credentials.  I find Durrell's abusive behavior disturbing, which is not "new," but I also sense that it is a topic considered off-bounds by the moderators of this list.
> 
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>> Sent: May 24, 2008 7:54 AM
>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>> Subject: Re: [ilds] A Chronology of the Life and Times of Lawrence Durrell
>>
>> Bruce,
>>
>> Yes, but when did I say otherwise?  Your comments on alcoholism are new 
>> (though not new news!), so they're a rather paltry rhetorical strategy, 
>> and everything Brewster lists that you comment on has been around for 
>> more than a decade in the biographies and 20 years now in the letters. 
>> It simply isn't anything we all didn't already know, though it's kind to 
>> give Brewster the tip of the hat (he's done fine work, and it would be 
>> nice to see his book circulating more widely).
>>
>> But, the real query is, are you trying to say that you would prefer to 
>> pretend Durrell's publishing record with regard to political issues is 
>> best ignored by readers because he later drank a great deal?  You and I 
>> both know that's false logic.  There are a great many reasons you could 
>> disagree with my take on Durrell's politics, and I'd be greatly pleased 
>> to hear them, especially since they might be right, but the fact that he 
>> drank too much in 1974 really has nothing to do with it...  It's also 
>> well-established that his working strategy at that period was to write 
>>from the very early morning and then drink away the rest of the day -- 
>> the alcoholism doesn't impact the prose and writing the way it does 
>> with, say, a Malcolm Lowry or James Joyce, though it's an obvious factor.
>>
>> But, apart from all that, glasses with a terribly kind mavrodaphne were 
>> raised this evening in Kalami.  I hope California heard the echo of the 
>> glasses.
>>
>> Best,
>> James
>>
>> Bruce Redwine wrote:
>>> James,
>>>
>>> I have not misrepresented what Brewster Chamberlin writes for the year 1974 in Durrell's life.  I don't know what Chamberlin's intentions are, but he records excessive drinking, physical and verbal abuse of a woman, and problems with Miller stemming from the latter.  I would call someone who drinks more than a bottle of wine a day an alcoholic, and I believe medical doctors would too.
>>>
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: James Gifford <odos.fanourios at gmail.com>
>>>> Sent: May 23, 2008 8:02 PM
>>>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Violence and Disintegration
>>>> ps: I've consulted the author with regard to your thoughts on the 
>>>> Chronology and its suggestions around 1974, and he believes you're 
>>>> reading contrary to his intentions...  Are you now a strong reader 
>>>> Bruce?  I hope so -- that might lead to some very exciting things.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> ILDS mailing list
>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> ILDS mailing list
>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
> 

From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Sat May 24 19:07:25 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 20:07:25 -0600
Subject: [ilds] Life and Times
In-Reply-To: <4838929F.3020609@wfu.edu>
References: <18661362.1211647213808.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<48382C39.5000005@gmail.com>
	<4838929F.3020609@wfu.edu>
Message-ID: <4838C9DD.3080207@gmail.com>

 > Do you have proof of the strong-proofing and other
 > carrying on in Kerkira, Jamie?  We here back across
 > the oceans would benefit from your digital photos.

I can only follow Charles' guidance.  This is from Thomas' Place, a 
little taverna on the beach where we sat for dinner last night.  Alas, I 
have no proof of the strong-proof, and we were mild enough that I have 
no lingering  implications of it either.  Unlike Old D, I think we 
shared perhaps two kilos across the evening amongst all 8 of us, which 
puts us collectively at half of his (surely boasting) daily bredwine.

I'm also very pleased to see Howard Zinn making his influence felt here.

Best,
Jamie
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From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Sat May 24 23:32:41 2008
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 00:32:41 -0600
Subject: [ilds] Violence and Disintegration
In-Reply-To: <17972884.1211603681697.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <17972884.1211603681697.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <48390809.1030108@gmail.com>

Bruce,

With my tongue planted very firmly in my own cheek, I have a query to 
your assertion:

> I am particularly troubled by the accounts 
> of Durrell's physical violence towards 
> women.... In a recent ILDS posting, Fraser 
> Wilson has noted the following passage from 
> Eric Gifford's East of Athens (1939):  
> "Larry was short, blond and excitable ... 
> His wife was tall and slender, with handsome 
> cats' eyes.  Being an ex-Slade student, she 
> wore her straight, fair hair cut a la Trilby.  
> As her husband once remarked to me:  'You've 
> no idea what an arty-arty little bitch Nancy 
> was until I knocked her into shape.'"  I 
> have Gifford's book.  The quote is accurate, 
> on p. 139.  "Little bitch ... knocked her 
> into shape" -- what does all this mean?  And 
> I don't take it as a metaphor, in view of 
> subsequent events.  Eric Gifford's account 
> is of course hearsay, but it fits a pattern 
> confirmed in Durrell's latter years.

Have you examined Eric Gifford's (no relation) chronology here?  I'm 
looking at the Durrell School's much thumbed copy.  Apparently he was 
heading from Athens via Corfu to Brindisi during the 1935 uprising. 
Alas, Durrell was heading to Corfu for the first time at precisely the 
same moment, and this is some time before he ever went to live in 
Kalami.  Gifford's memory is either exceptionally inventive insofar as 
he has created a meeting with a young poet he couldn't possibly have 
ever met, unless he did so on some other return voyage, or else he's 
reconstructing materials very, very freely and with obvious errors.

Personally, I'd rather turn to the representations of the art student in 
/Pied Piper of Lovers/ and /Panic Spring/, one of whom is expressly a 
Slade student matching the description.  We've talked much this past 
week about Nin's comments on Nancy and her boyishness next to Durrell's 
feminine image.

But, I suspect that a close reading of one word in Gifford's account at 
this point is not likely to be viable in any real sense.

That said, Richard Pine gave a good lecture on Durrell's misogyny here 
this past week, and MacNiven documents Durrell's abusive relationships 
later in life quite well.  This does, however, continue to leave us at 
an impasse for the 1930s and 40s.  I would very much like to return to 
your queries about political issues then, and I'm not sure where we 
might go.  Can you perhaps say more about your thoughts on Durrell's 
pacifist / individualist views, in particular in the 30s and 40s?

Best,
James

From slighcl at wfu.edu  Sun May 25 07:49:19 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 10:49:19 -0400
Subject: [ilds] Life and Times
In-Reply-To: <4838C9DD.3080207@gmail.com>
References: <18661362.1211647213808.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<48382C39.5000005@gmail.com>	<4838929F.3020609@wfu.edu>
	<4838C9DD.3080207@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <48397C6F.50403@wfu.edu>



On 5/24/2008 10:07 PM, James Gifford wrote:
>
>
> I can only follow Charles' guidance.  This is from Thomas' Place, a 
> little taverna on the beach where we sat for dinner last night. 
Thanks for the photo of Kalami, Jamie.  I am cheered to see the swimming 
rock still there at the shoreline.  Much has passed.  It remains.

Charles

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************



From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sun May 25 13:27:47 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 13:27:47 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] Amends
Message-ID: <14717223.1211747268093.JavaMail.root@elwamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

I am glad to see that some people on this list are making amends to Dr. Anthony Durrell.  The man is owed an apology, and I offer him one.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: Denise Tart & David Green <dtart at bigpond.net.au>
>Sent: May 24, 2008 9:42 PM
>To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: Re: [ilds] caveat
>
>For example I have found these two online references to Dr Durrell and they entirely rebut Pine's claim that Dr Durrell is a charlatan. - Lois Rees
>
>Lois,
>
>Thanks for going into bat for the good doctor. Dr Anthony Durrell is known to me. We have met several times. He is known as 'Doctor Mood' and works out of Macquarue Street Sydney, which is our equivalent of Harley Street in London. In other words he is a top notch psychologist. He is also an amusing, erudite companion with a great knowledge of eastern mysticism, the writings of both Durrells and a healthy libido for wine and the fair sex. He also has a highly developed sense of the piss-take, an expression that will be familiar to English and Australian readers but maybe not be a term used in The United States of Everything. Loosely translated it means to cleverly deflate the pompous, pretentious and overbearing either by word or deed in a largely harmless way. Before meeting Dr Mood, I was very nervous. I was expecting someone in buddist clothing wearing shoes of different colours, but instead I met a stocky Durrell looking man in a well cut pinstripe suit of superior quality, polished shoes of one colour, smart tie and indeed all the hallmarks of a proper doctor. If Dr D is a charlatan, then we all are. I must stop posing as a half decent school teacher
>
>David Green
>
>Denise Tart & David Green
>16 William Street, Marrickville NSW 2204




From slighcl at wfu.edu  Sun May 25 14:05:24 2008
From: slighcl at wfu.edu (slighcl)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 17:05:24 -0400
Subject: [ilds] back to durrell
In-Reply-To: <14717223.1211747268093.JavaMail.root@elwamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <14717223.1211747268093.JavaMail.root@elwamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <4839D494.2060209@wfu.edu>

On 5/25/2008 4:27 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
> I am glad to see that some people on this list are making amends to Dr. Anthony Durrell.  The man is owed an apology, and I offer him one.
>
>
>
>   
I do not understand the general warrant you are serving here, Bruce. 

That bit of bickering happened long ago.  It was carried out by two 
individuals who made their choices and traded their emails.  The tagging 
and targeting seemed pretty even to me.  The truth of any of the 
aspersions was and is more muddled, and I will leave the parsing to more 
enlightened and interested minds to determine. 

To make the affair anything else is to indulge in melodrama.  And I 
suspect that Dr. Durrell has rather enough gusto and /esprit /to rebound 
without a group hand-wringing.  Really, I do not sense that he has 
slowed down a bit.

However, if you want to follow up on David Green's more robust idea of 
renting a field and turning our storied heroes a-loose in it for a 
/m?l?e/, well then I am certain I could assist with beverage sales and 
bookmaking. 

***

To turn back to the topic of Lawrence Durrell and his writings--which I 
prefer--I now have a list of suggested readings that includes

    * /Prospero's Cell/
    * /Reflections on a Marine Venus/
    * /Monsieur: or, The Prince of Darkness/


Thanks to Peter, David, and Jamie for speaking up for the Old Guy's 
works.  Are there any other readers out there?

I will wait for a few more days before settling the list to one or two 
works.

Charles

-- 
**********************
Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
Wake Forest University
slighcl at wfu.edu
**********************

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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sun May 25 14:25:31 2008
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 14:25:31 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [ilds] back to durrell
Message-ID: <2697873.1211750731432.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Charles, I disagree and repeat what I said before.


Bruce


-----Original Message-----
>From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
>Sent: May 25, 2008 2:05 PM
>To: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>, ilds at lists.uvic.ca
>Subject: [ilds] back to durrell
>
>On 5/25/2008 4:27 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>> I am glad to see that some people on this list are making amends to Dr. Anthony Durrell.  The man is owed an apology, and I offer him one.
>>
>>
>>
>>   
>I do not understand the general warrant you are serving here, Bruce. 
>
>That bit of bickering happened long ago.  It was carried out by two 
>individuals who made their choices and traded their emails.  The tagging 
>and targeting seemed pretty even to me.  The truth of any of the 
>aspersions was and is more muddled, and I will leave the parsing to more 
>enlightened and interested minds to determine. 
>
>To make the affair anything else is to indulge in melodrama.  And I 
>suspect that Dr. Durrell has rather enough gusto and /esprit /to rebound 
>without a group hand-wringing.  Really, I do not sense that he has 
>slowed down a bit.