[ilds] Avignon

[slighcl]

On 7/29/2008 6:44 AM, Ilyas wrote:

>         Its been quite a while since I read Monsieur, but I have to
>         say that there is a special significance in getting lost in
>         the book whilst taking an evening train down from Paris.
>         Somehow it all seems that much more relevant and that much
>         more meaningful. Highly recommended !

Thanks for this note, Ilyas.

There is indeed something about the Durrellian "approach."   In the 
earlier writings, where the "approaches" to Corfu or to Alexandria or to 
Rhodes tend to be made aboard a variety of small craft, caïque, or 
cruiser--or in the later /Quintet/, where the approach comes by 
train--these opening visions of "arrivals" are some of the most 
memorable descriptive passages in Durrell's works.

In a way, all of Durrell's writing was deeply impressed by his early 
experiences "rounding" the capes and points between Corfu town and 
Kalami, where the next destination would "swing" into view, "swimming 
up" to meet the traveler. 

The special optics of the Van Norden, or Bootle-/bumtrinket /narratives. 
. . .//

Charles

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

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