[ilds] Durrell's Derring-do

[slighcl]

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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