From richardpin at eircom.net  Tue Dec 29 00:33:39 2009
From: richardpin at eircom.net (richardpin at eircom.net)
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:33:39 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [ilds] postscript re Robert Dessaix
In-Reply-To: <4B311099.3060006@interdesign.fr>
Message-ID: <31916619.2521262075619229.JavaMail.root@webmailbox301.eircom.net>

Recommended reading: Robert Dessaix, 'Corfu - a Novel' (Picador, 2001)
Richard Pine
Durrell School of Corfu

----- "Marc Piel" <marcpiel at interdesign.fr> wrote:
> One of his latest books titled "Arabesques" has
> just been published in France.
> 
> The text on the "island" seems to me to be a
> paradigme for the "state" of homosexuality.
> Hardly LD!
> 
> Marc
> 
> Denise Tart & David Green a ?crit :
> > I should also mention that Robert Dessaix has written a book /Corfu
> > /which seems to contain themes of wanderers and islands and cavafy
> and
> > so forth.
> >
> > David Green
> >
> >
> > Denise Tart
> > designing ceremonies
> > Civil Celebrant - A8807
> > 16 William Street
> > Marrickville NSW  2204
> > +61 2 9564 6165
> > 0412 707 625
> > dtart at bigpond.net.au <mailto:dtart at bigpond.net.au>
> > www.denisetart.com.au <http://www.denisetart.com.au>
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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 dkaczv at LaTech.edu  Wed Dec 30 08:06:08 2009
From: dkaczv at LaTech.edu (Donald P. Kaczvinsky)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:06:08 -0600
Subject: [ilds] OMG XVI-Submission Deadline Extension
Message-ID: <20091230100608.171772qyt3tinn48@webmail.latech.edu>

Durrellians--

The deadline for proposal submissions to OMG XVI, Durrell and the  
City:Reconstructing the Urban Landscape, has been extended to January  
15, 2010. Please send all proposals by email to dkaczv at latech.edu with  
the subject line "Durrell and the City" and include a 250-word  
abstract, a brief bio, and academic or professional information.

Due to a family emergency, I have not been able to acknowledge  
proposals aleady sent but will do so as soon as possible, probably  
within the next week.

Thanks for all your good proposals so far. I think the conference is  
shaping up to be a very fine tribute for the 50th anniversary of the  
Quartet.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a good New Year!

Don Kacz

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.



From james.d.gifford at gmail.com  Wed Dec 30 10:26:31 2009
From: james.d.gifford at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:26:31 -0800
Subject: [ilds] postscript re Robert Dessaix
In-Reply-To: <4B311099.3060006@interdesign.fr>
References: <E0D3DF20F06A4E8687934D92132C00E8@MumandDad>
	<4B311099.3060006@interdesign.fr>
Message-ID: <4B3B9B57.1050808@gmail.com>

Marc Piel wrote:
> One of his latest books titled "Arabesques" has 
> just been published in France.
> 
> The text on the "island" seems to me to be a 
> paradigme for the "state" of homosexuality.
> Hardly LD!
> 
> Marc

I think I'd debate that...  Which Durrell novel fails to include a major 
homosexual character or scene sympathetically?  Let's not forget the 
word "bisexual" that's lost twice in epigrams and prefaces to the 
Quartet -- the word may have been cut, but I think it's still very much 
present in the text as a whole.

Best,
James

From james.d.gifford at gmail.com  Wed Dec 30 10:29:24 2009
From: james.d.gifford at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:29:24 -0800
Subject: [ilds] Robert Dessaix on islomania
In-Reply-To: <A6C3DE4984EE4FB89A5BCF7C3CA5B402@MumandDad>
References: <A6C3DE4984EE4FB89A5BCF7C3CA5B402@MumandDad>
Message-ID: <4B3B9C04.40000@gmail.com>

I think this smacks of Durrellian influence!  Although I'd wager serious 
funds that Dessaix hadn't read /Panic Spring/, I wonder if it is useful 
in juxtaposition with /Prospero's Cell/ and /Reflections on a Marine 
Venus/ to illustrate Durrell's islomania?  I certainly think the island 
functions as a terrain of the unconscious in /PS/ and /The Black Book/ 
too for that matter...

Best to all during the holidays!

-James

Denise Tart & David Green wrote:
> To my mind the below text applies to LD in some measure - remembering 
> that his last island was Cyprus, a bad experience and he never lived on 
> one again
>  
> /Islands are not just islands, are they? I mean, they are not just bits 
> of land surrounded by water, they also stand for something less 
> tangible, always half desired. When you look across the water and see an 
> island, part of you wants to go there, don't you find? I can't help 
> thinking it has got something to do with sudden resolution. there you 
> are floundering in all that eddying, featureless water, with unseen 
> horrors you can only guess at prowling beneath the surface, when 
> suddenly an island appears on the horizon; such a blessedly fixed point, 
> *a place of longed for release from anxiety and aimlessness, not too 
> mention the lurking monsters of the subconscious.* So an island, even 
> the flattest or rockiest or most barren, seems beautiful. It's the self 
> we'd like to be. Dante of course, if you recall, says that Purgatory is 
> an island, the realm of those who have not wilfully sinned, is an 
> island. There reason still has some hope of becoming a vision./
>  
> - Robert Dessaix /Night Letters./
> Robert Dessaix is an Australian writer and radio commentator.
>  
>  
> David Green
> 16 William Street
> Marrickville NSW  2204
> +61 2 9564 6165
> 0412 707 625
> dtart at bigpond.net.au <mailto:dtart at bigpond.net.au>
> www.denisetart.com.au <http://www.denisetart.com.au>
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

From marcpiel at interdesign.fr  Wed Dec 30 10:59:15 2009
From: marcpiel at interdesign.fr (Marc Piel)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:59:15 +0100
Subject: [ilds] postscript re Robert Dessaix
In-Reply-To: <4B3B9B57.1050808@gmail.com>
References: <E0D3DF20F06A4E8687934D92132C00E8@MumandDad>	<4B311099.3060006@interdesign.fr>
	<4B3B9B57.1050808@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4B3BA303.5050803@interdesign.fr>

Hi James,
Guess I didn't express myself correctly; my 
comment was in relation to Dessaix, not to 
Lawrence Durrell!
Cherrs and a happy New Year
Marc

James Gifford a ?crit :
> Marc Piel wrote:
>> One of his latest books titled "Arabesques" has 
>> just been published in France.
>>
>> The text on the "island" seems to me to be a 
>> paradigme for the "state" of homosexuality.
>> Hardly LD!
>>
>> Marc
> 
> I think I'd debate that...  Which Durrell novel fails to include a major 
> homosexual character or scene sympathetically?  Let's not forget the 
> word "bisexual" that's lost twice in epigrams and prefaces to the 
> Quartet -- the word may have been cut, but I think it's still very much 
> present in the text as a whole.
> 
> Best,
> James
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
> 
> 
> 

From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sat Jan  2 15:47:35 2010
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2010 15:47:35 -0800
Subject: [ilds] merry christ
In-Reply-To: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
References: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <C902CA3C-B276-4192-9037-E18B2784F6B3@earthlink.net>

A good way to begin the New Year, 2010.  Thanks, RW, but you left out Sicily, so you still have more enjoyment to come.  Lucky you.


Bruce


On Dec 23, 2009, at 7:14 PM, RW HEDGES wrote:

>  Durrell is an island, that makes sense. New-york and the aftermath of Paris and London of hard stone and flesh as solid as a broad splayed shit heap. Chance found me Durrell; floating as light and orange as a hint of honey and rum in a grape half sqweezed. Marine venus is exactly the pin point of this moment Bruce pointed out. I have been reading it as if I was sipping a fine drink. Yet I normally devour the drink or book far too quickly. I really think that the marine venus is Prosperos amendment. And that Durrell left Islomania is no surprise. He had his fill and we can either talk or live it in admiration.
>  I expect to end up on an island myself if lucky, but what charcters rise from his books, those places! Cyprus, Corfu and Rhodes....Amazing. No-one can do more for the earthy sunrise of a Greek morning. I love him. Simply love him. I will never make a Durrell get together but I think I love him more each day. Thats because I only care about his tables and sunsets and holy men and village idiots. Those and the women he loves to raise from the depths of the clear blue. I love Durrell and I wear a badge; "Durrell". Cheers David.+++
> 

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From dtart at bigpond.net.au  Sat Jan  2 16:28:12 2010
From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green)
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 11:28:12 +1100
Subject: [ilds] Corfu; the fascination continues
Message-ID: <2D1B629943FB43A89A7FE454E38EEA04@MumandDad>

Below some comments on Robert Dessaix's Corfu. Durrellians will observe some familiar themes.



'House in Gastouri for rent for 2 mths. Occupant travelling. Reasonable rent.' 

In a village on the island of Corfu, alone in the cottage of a man he's never met, a young Australian actor pieces together the strange life story of the writer whose house he's living in. As he explores his surroundings and makes new friends in Corfu, his own life begins to appear to him like an illuminating shadow-play of his absent host's. 

Set in the physical landscapes of the Greek islands, Adelaide and the suburbs of London, Robert Dessaix's second novel is about friendship, love, the ordinary and extraordinary. Yet at its core is a perfectly placed meditation on literary landscapes - Homer, Sappho, Cavafy and Chekhov - and the part art can play in making our lives beautiful.

Author Information
Robert Dessaix was the producer and presenter of ABC Radio National's Books and Writing program from 1985 to 1995. Born in Sydney in 1944, he studied Russian language and literature at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he also taught for some twenty years until joining the ABC. After joining the ABC he began to publish his own short fiction and essays and in 1993 co-edited Picador New Writing . In 1994 he published to critical acclaim "A Mother's Disgrace", while his bestselling first novel, "Night Letters" (1996) won the ABA Book of the Year Award in 1996 and the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal in 1997. This was followed by "Secrets", written with Drusilla Modjeska and Amanda Lohrey, in 1997. "(and so forth)", a selection of Robert Dessaix's short fiction, essays and journalism, was published in to rave reviews and won the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies H.T. Priestley medal (Best Book of the Year) in 1998. He lives in Tasmania.

  Although this novel was inspired by the life of Australian writer and actor, Kester Berwick, the Narrator is as fictional as the characters he encounters.

This needs to be said at the start, for one might understandably, and unwisely, take the narrator of Corfu to be Robert Dessaix. He has Dessaix's love of things Russian; he has something of Dessaix's intelligence and his broad knowledge of literature; he speaks in the first person about a man who actually lived from 1930 to 1992; he is Australian and he is gay. The narrator's "voice," nowever, is not the voice Dessaix's readers have come to know. And, initially, I must admit that I didn't like it. It was only when I learned that the narrator was an actor, that the camp tone, sly wit and catty comments fell into place and I began to enjoy it.

Dessaix's narrator, who is never named, is on his way home to Adelaide but, like Odysseus, he ends up on Corfu: "Greece, as we all know, is full of foreigners who were once on their way home from somewhere and got stranded there. They wash up on the beach while floating past, disappointed by something or other..." The narrator is disappointed in love. So, too was Kester Berwick, in whose house the narrator resides for a couple of months. The house and its contents arouse his curiosity about Kester and he does a bit of snooping. He reads Kester's letters and books, looks at his personal photographs, and gets to know his friends and neighbours, all of whom are suitably odd, even if only because they choose to live as foreigners on a Greek island.

Art reflects life. And between Kester Berwick and the narrator there are many parallels. Both are actors and writers; both are restless and away from home; and both, it transpires, have some sort of ongoing relationship with William, a young, cocky, feckless Australian, who is like some figure from Ancient Greek poetry. But it is Chekhov more than the Ancient Greeks who links this book together, although Homer, Tolstoy, Sappho and Cavafy also play their parts.

Homer, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Sappho, Cavafy and Kester Berwick make unlikely bedfellows but the common ground of their "literary landscapes" is to be found in the narrator's musings. On The Cherry Orchard, for example, which Chekhov calls "A Comedy in Three Acts":

  ...we read through Act III. Such a painful act - the stupid party Renyevskaya throws while her estate is being auctioned off, while she's losing everything she loves and ruining everyone, its an orgy of humiliation and despair. And terribly funny, according to Clive [the Director], an expert on all things Russian. "Remember its vaudeville with feeling," he said to us as we were about to begin.

Chekhov, the narrator eventually concludes, is funny, and also entirely relevant to life in North London and Corfu and elsewhere, because his characters fill their lives with the trivia, just as we all do: "Any fool, as Chekhov himself said somewhere, can deal with a crisis--it's day-to-day living that wears us out." 

Meandering around Corfu, Lesbos, London and Adelaide in some vivid journeys, with some vivid encounters, the narrator ponders literature, friendship and love, exile and home, and life in general.

I was entertained. And surprised, when I had finished, to realise that I had just enjoyed what could well be classified as "gay fiction." But to classify it as such would be as limiting as to describe it as "travel writing," which is also possible. Like Jeanette Winterson, Dessaix deals interestingly with ideas, art and literature.

Peter Craven, in a review of this book in the Australian Book Review (August 2001), praises Dessaix's writing, generally, for its "wiriness and intellectual intensity," and for the "integrity and purpose" which he habitually displays "under all that lavender carry on." This is true. I can't say I have ever noticed the "lavender carry on" before, but there are certainly elements of it in Corfu, a book which Craven dislikes and calls "maddenly campy," and purposeless. Yet, considering all the narrator's musing on purposelessness in Chekhov, this is perhaps the whole point of the book.

In any case, Corfu is a novel, and Dessaix is surely allowed to have fun in his fiction writing, even if it does conflict with conservative views of the way a "national treasure" (Craven's words) should behave. Does it really matter if the journey is purposeless? The narrator's company is entertaining, his travels are exotic, and his adventures, like those of Odysseus, are curiously full of strange encounters. It's definitely not gloomy enough for Chekhov, but Homer might well have been amused.

David Green
16 William Street
Marrickville NSW  2204
+61 2 9564 6165
0412 707 625
dtart at bigpond.net.au
www.denisetart.com.au
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From marcpiel at interdesign.fr  Sat Jan  2 12:16:36 2010
From: marcpiel at interdesign.fr (Marc Piel)
Date: Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:16:36 +0100
Subject: [ilds] merry christ
In-Reply-To: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
References: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4B3FA9A4.2070302@interdesign.fr>

After reading your post I feel sure that "Durrell" 
as you call him, would hate you.
Nothing personal, just....

RW HEDGES a ?crit :
>  Durrell is an island, that makes sense. New-york and the aftermath 
> of Paris and London of hard stone and flesh as solid as a broad splayed 
> shit heap. Chance found me Durrell; floating as light and orange as a 
> hint of honey and rum in a grape half sqweezed. Marine venus is exactly 
> the pin point of this moment Bruce pointed out. I have been reading it 
> as if I was sipping a fine drink. Yet I normally devour the drink or 
> book far too quickly. I really think that the marine venus is Prosperos 
> amendment. And that Durrell left Islomania is no surprise. He had his 
> fill and we can either talk or live it in admiration.
>  I expect to end up on an island myself if lucky, but what charcters 
> rise from his books, those places! Cyprus, Corfu and Rhodes....Amazing. 
> No-one can do more for the earthy sunrise of a Greek morning. I love 
> him. Simply love him. I will never make a Durrell get together but I 
> think I love him more each day. Thats because I only care about his 
> tables and sunsets and holy men and village idiots. Those and the women 
> he loves to raise from the depths of the clear blue. I love Durrell and 
> I wear a badge; "Durrell". Cheers David.+++
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access 
> both. < http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/186394591/direct/01/>
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

From marcpiel at interdesign.fr  Sun Jan  3 05:39:08 2010
From: marcpiel at interdesign.fr (Marc Piel)
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:39:08 +0100
Subject: [ilds] Corfu; the fascination continues
In-Reply-To: <2D1B629943FB43A89A7FE454E38EEA04@MumandDad>
References: <2D1B629943FB43A89A7FE454E38EEA04@MumandDad>
Message-ID: <4B409DFC.9020700@interdesign.fr>

Isn't it curious how reviews can talk about a 
different story (or leave out parts for one reason 
or another). The one I read on "Corfu" places the 
writer on is way home to Adelaide but in Italy 
living with an Italian lover who leaves him.. The 
writer goes to Corfu where he rents a house .... 
this part is the same.... The witer whilst being 
indiscrete discovers photos of and a letter from 
his italian lover addressed to his absent landlord 
and discovers that the lover is to come and live 
with the landlord...etc...

It was in French and Google refused to find it for 
me again....
BR
Marc

Denise Tart & David Green a ?crit :
> Below some comments on Robert Dessaix's /Corfu/. Durrellians will 
> observe /some/ familiar themes.
> 
>  
> 
> 'House in Gastouri for rent for 2 mths. Occupant travelling. Reasonable 
> rent.'
> 
> In a village on the island of Corfu, alone in the cottage of a man he's 
> never met, a young Australian actor pieces together the strange life 
> story of the writer whose house he's living in. As he explores his 
> surroundings and makes new friends in Corfu, his own life begins to 
> appear to him like an illuminating shadow-play of his absent host's.
> 
> Set in the physical landscapes of the Greek islands, Adelaide and the 
> suburbs of London, Robert Dessaix's second novel is about friendship, 
> love, the ordinary and extraordinary. Yet at its core is a perfectly 
> placed meditation on literary landscapes - Homer, Sappho, Cavafy and 
> Chekhov - and the part art can play in making our lives beautiful.
> 
> 
>       Author Information
> 
> Robert Dessaix was the producer and presenter of ABC Radio National's 
> Books and Writing program from 1985 to 1995. Born in Sydney in 1944, he 
> studied Russian language and literature at the Australian National 
> University in Canberra, where he also taught for some twenty years until 
> joining the ABC. After joining the ABC he began to publish his own short 
> fiction and essays and in 1993 co-edited Picador New Writing . In 1994 
> he published to critical acclaim "A Mother's Disgrace", while his 
> bestselling first novel, "Night Letters" (1996) won the ABA Book of the 
> Year Award in 1996 and the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal in 
> 1997. This was followed by "Secrets", written with Drusilla Modjeska and 
> Amanda Lohrey, in 1997. "(and so forth)", a selection of Robert 
> Dessaix's short fiction, essays and journalism, was published in to rave 
> reviews and won the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies H.T. 
> Priestley medal (Best Book of the Year) in 1998. He lives in Tasmania.
> 
>     /Although this novel was inspired by the life of Australian writer
>     and actor, Kester Berwick, the Narrator is as fictional as the
>     characters he encounters./
> 
> This needs to be said at the start, for one might understandably, and 
> unwisely, take the narrator of /Corfu/ to be Robert Dessaix. He has 
> Dessaix's love of things Russian; he has something of Dessaix's 
> intelligence and his broad knowledge of literature; he speaks in the 
> first person about a man who actually lived from 1930 to 1992; he is 
> Australian and he is gay. The narrator's "voice," nowever, is not the 
> voice Dessaix's readers have come to know. And, initially, I must admit 
> that I didn't like it. It was only when I learned that the narrator was 
> an actor, that the camp tone, sly wit and catty comments fell into place 
> and I began to enjoy it.
> 
> Dessaix's narrator, who is never named, is on his way home to Adelaide 
> but, like Odysseus, he ends up on Corfu: "Greece, as we all know, is 
> full of foreigners who were once on their way home from somewhere and 
> got stranded there. They wash up on the beach while floating past, 
> disappointed by something or other..." The narrator is disappointed in 
> love. So, too was Kester Berwick, in whose house the narrator resides 
> for a couple of months. The house and its contents arouse his curiosity 
> about Kester and he does a bit of snooping. He reads Kester's letters 
> and books, looks at his personal photographs, and gets to know his 
> friends and neighbours, all of whom are suitably odd, even if only 
> because they choose to live as foreigners on a Greek island.
> 
> Art reflects life. And between Kester Berwick and the narrator there are 
> many parallels. Both are actors and writers; both are restless and away 
> from home; and both, it transpires, have some sort of ongoing 
> relationship with William, a young, cocky, feckless Australian, who is 
> like some figure from Ancient Greek poetry. But it is Chekhov more than 
> the Ancient Greeks who links this book together, although Homer, 
> Tolstoy, Sappho and Cavafy also play their parts.
> 
> Homer, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Sappho, Cavafy and Kester Berwick make unlikely 
> bedfellows but the common ground of their "literary landscapes" is to be 
> found in the narrator's musings. On /The Cherry Orchard/, for example, 
> which Chekhov calls "A Comedy in Three Acts":
> 
>     ...we read through Act III. Such a painful act - the stupid party
>     Renyevskaya throws while her estate is being auctioned off, while
>     she's losing everything she loves and ruining everyone, its an orgy
>     of humiliation and despair. And terribly funny, according to Clive
>     [the Director], an expert on all things Russian. "Remember its
>     vaudeville with feeling," he said to us as we were about to begin.
> 
> Chekhov, the narrator eventually concludes, is funny, and also entirely 
> relevant to life in North London and Corfu and elsewhere, because his 
> characters fill their lives with the trivia, just as we all do: "Any 
> fool, as Chekhov himself said somewhere, can deal with a crisis--it's 
> day-to-day living that wears us out."
> 
> Meandering around Corfu, Lesbos, London and Adelaide in some vivid 
> journeys, with some vivid encounters, the narrator ponders literature, 
> friendship and love, exile and home, and life in general.
> 
> I was entertained. And surprised, when I had finished, to realise that I 
> had just enjoyed what could well be classified as "gay fiction." But to 
> classify it as such would be as limiting as to describe it as "travel 
> writing," which is also possible. Like Jeanette Winterson, Dessaix deals 
> interestingly with ideas, art and literature.
> 
> Peter Craven, in a review of this book in the /Australian Book Review/ 
> (August 2001), praises Dessaix?s writing, generally, for its "wiriness 
> and intellectual intensity," and for the "integrity and purpose" which 
> he habitually displays "under all that lavender carry on." This is true. 
> I can't say I have ever noticed the "lavender carry on" before, but 
> there are certainly elements of it in /Corfu/, a book which Craven 
> dislikes and calls "maddenly campy," and purposeless. Yet, considering 
> all the narrator?s musing on purposelessness in Chekhov, this is perhaps 
> the whole point of the book.
> 
> In any case, /Corfu/ is a novel, and Dessaix is surely allowed to have 
> fun in his fiction writing, even if it does conflict with conservative 
> views of the way a "national treasure" (Craven's words) should behave. 
> Does it really matter if the journey is purposeless? The narrator?s 
> company is entertaining, his travels are exotic, and his adventures, 
> like those of Odysseus, are curiously full of strange encounters. It?s 
> definitely not gloomy enough for Chekhov, but Homer might well have been 
> amused.
> 
> David Green
> 16 William Street
> Marrickville NSW  2204
> +61 2 9564 6165
> 0412 707 625
> dtart at bigpond.net.au <mailto:dtart at bigpond.net.au>
> www.denisetart.com.au <http://www.denisetart.com.au>
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

From marcpiel at interdesign.fr  Sun Jan  3 05:41:48 2010
From: marcpiel at interdesign.fr (Marc Piel)
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:41:48 +0100
Subject: [ilds] merry christ
In-Reply-To: <4B3FA9A4.2070302@interdesign.fr>
References: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
	<4B3FA9A4.2070302@interdesign.fr>
Message-ID: <4B409E9C.2060500@interdesign.fr>

Please excuse me I should not have used the word 
"hate", what I meant was that I felt that 
"Durrell" would not have liked that text about 
LD...    sorry.
Marc

Marc Piel a ?crit :
> After reading your post I feel sure that "Durrell" 
> as you call him, would hate you.
> Nothing personal, just....
> 
> RW HEDGES a ?crit :
>>  Durrell is an island, that makes sense. New-york and the aftermath 
>> of Paris and London of hard stone and flesh as solid as a broad splayed 
>> shit heap. Chance found me Durrell; floating as light and orange as a 
>> hint of honey and rum in a grape half sqweezed. Marine venus is exactly 
>> the pin point of this moment Bruce pointed out. I have been reading it 
>> as if I was sipping a fine drink. Yet I normally devour the drink or 
>> book far too quickly. I really think that the marine venus is Prosperos 
>> amendment. And that Durrell left Islomania is no surprise. He had his 
>> fill and we can either talk or live it in admiration.
>>  I expect to end up on an island myself if lucky, but what charcters 
>> rise from his books, those places! Cyprus, Corfu and Rhodes....Amazing. 
>> No-one can do more for the earthy sunrise of a Greek morning. I love 
>> him. Simply love him. I will never make a Durrell get together but I 
>> think I love him more each day. Thats because I only care about his 
>> tables and sunsets and holy men and village idiots. Those and the women 
>> he loves to raise from the depths of the clear blue. I love Durrell and 
>> I wear a badge; "Durrell". Cheers David.+++
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access 
>> both. < http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/186394591/direct/01/>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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 bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sun Jan  3 08:34:54 2010
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 08:34:54 -0800
Subject: [ilds] merry christ
In-Reply-To: <4B409E9C.2060500@interdesign.fr>
References: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
	<4B3FA9A4.2070302@interdesign.fr> <4B409E9C.2060500@interdesign.fr>
Message-ID: <BE450A3A-8006-4A9F-B4F3-7C98013B5935@earthlink.net>

To the contrary, Marc, I think LD would have enjoyed RW's text, which seems indebted to The Black Book.  Did the old guy ever discourage his fans?


Bruce


On Jan 3, 2010, at 5:41 AM, Marc Piel wrote:

> Please excuse me I should not have used the word 
> "hate", what I meant was that I felt that 
> "Durrell" would not have liked that text about 
> LD...    sorry.
> Marc
> 
> Marc Piel a ?crit :
>> After reading your post I feel sure that "Durrell" 
>> as you call him, would hate you.
>> Nothing personal, just....
>> 
>> RW HEDGES a ?crit :
>>> Durrell is an island, that makes sense. New-york and the aftermath 
>>> of Paris and London of hard stone and flesh as solid as a broad splayed 
>>> shit heap. Chance found me Durrell; floating as light and orange as a 
>>> hint of honey and rum in a grape half sqweezed. Marine venus is exactly 
>>> the pin point of this moment Bruce pointed out. I have been reading it 
>>> as if I was sipping a fine drink. Yet I normally devour the drink or 
>>> book far too quickly. I really think that the marine venus is Prosperos 
>>> amendment. And that Durrell left Islomania is no surprise. He had his 
>>> fill and we can either talk or live it in admiration.
>>> I expect to end up on an island myself if lucky, but what charcters 
>>> rise from his books, those places! Cyprus, Corfu and Rhodes....Amazing. 
>>> No-one can do more for the earthy sunrise of a Greek morning. I love 
>>> him. Simply love him. I will never make a Durrell get together but I 
>>> think I love him more each day. Thats because I only care about his 
>>> tables and sunsets and holy men and village idiots. Those and the women 
>>> he loves to raise from the depths of the clear blue. I love Durrell and 
>>> I wear a badge; "Durrell". Cheers David.+++
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access 
>>> both. < http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/186394591/direct/01/>
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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

-------------- next part --------------
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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sun Jan  3 10:39:28 2010
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 10:39:28 -0800
Subject: [ilds] merry christ
In-Reply-To: <4B40DB79.6040305@interdesign.fr>
References: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
	<4B3FA9A4.2070302@interdesign.fr> <4B409E9C.2060500@interdesign.fr>
	<BE450A3A-8006-4A9F-B4F3-7C98013B5935@earthlink.net>
	<4B40DB79.6040305@interdesign.fr>
Message-ID: <AD911DE8-B3E8-41BB-A326-F8271A772F29@earthlink.net>

Marc, I would have to say LD was never above being pretentious and awkward.  Happy New Year!


Bruce


On Jan 3, 2010, at 10:01 AM, Marc Piel wrote:

> Hi Bruce, Happpy New Year.
> I guess we don't agree!
> That text was pretentious and awkward; not at all LD style!
> BR
> Marc
> 
> Bruce Redwine a ?crit :
>> To the contrary, Marc, I think LD would have enjoyed RW's text, which seems indebted to /The Black Book./  Did the old guy ever discourage his fans?
>> Bruce
>> On Jan 3, 2010, at 5:41 AM, Marc Piel wrote:
>>> Please excuse me I should not have used the word
>>> "hate", what I meant was that I felt that
>>> "Durrell" would not have liked that text about
>>> LD...    sorry.
>>> Marc
>>> 
>>> Marc Piel a ?crit :
>>>> After reading your post I feel sure that "Durrell"
>>>> as you call him, would hate you.
>>>> Nothing personal, just....
>>>> 
>>>> RW HEDGES a ?crit :
>>>>> Durrell is an island, that makes sense. New-york and the aftermath
>>>>> of Paris and London of hard stone and flesh as solid as a broad splayed
>>>>> shit heap. Chance found me Durrell; floating as light and orange as a
>>>>> hint of honey and rum in a grape half sqweezed. Marine venus is exactly
>>>>> the pin point of this moment Bruce pointed out. I have been reading it
>>>>> as if I was sipping a fine drink. Yet I normally devour the drink or
>>>>> book far too quickly. I really think that the marine venus is Prosperos
>>>>> amendment. And that Durrell left Islomania is no surprise. He had his
>>>>> fill and we can either talk or live it in admiration.
>>>>> I expect to end up on an island myself if lucky, but what charcters
>>>>> rise from his books, those places! Cyprus, Corfu and Rhodes....Amazing.
>>>>> No-one can do more for the earthy sunrise of a Greek morning. I love
>>>>> him. Simply love him. I will never make a Durrell get together but I
>>>>> think I love him more each day. Thats because I only care about his
>>>>> tables and sunsets and holy men and village idiots. Those and the women
>>>>> he loves to raise from the depths of the clear blue. I love Durrell and
>>>>> I wear a badge; "Durrell". Cheers David.+++
>>>>> 
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access
>>>>> both. < http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/186394591/direct/01/>
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> ILDS mailing list
>>>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ILDS at lists.uvic.ca>
>>>>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> ILDS mailing list
>>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ILDS at lists.uvic.ca>
>>>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> ILDS mailing list
>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ILDS at lists.uvic.ca>
>>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds



From odos.fanourios at gmail.com  Sun Jan  3 16:25:36 2010
From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 16:25:36 -0800
Subject: [ilds] merry christ
In-Reply-To: <AD911DE8-B3E8-41BB-A326-F8271A772F29@earthlink.net>
References: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
	<4B3FA9A4.2070302@interdesign.fr> <4B409E9C.2060500@interdesign.fr>
	<BE450A3A-8006-4A9F-B4F3-7C98013B5935@earthlink.net>
	<4B40DB79.6040305@interdesign.fr>
	<AD911DE8-B3E8-41BB-A326-F8271A772F29@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <2bfc74101001031625o468a090ag2235a0cbc475a8f0@mail.gmail.com>

I'm curious if there's a way to reconcile Durrell's demonstrable
willingness to squeeze every penny and ounce of sympathy from fans
while at the same time refusing to play the part of the wise sage?

I suppose, for instance, one could compare any of his public readings
(I have a recording of one in NY) or indulgences in bafflegab during
interviews versus his consideration of the role of the artist in any
of the published versions of "No Clue to Living."  In short, my
suspicion is that the serious LD would "hate" being idolized or looked
to for answers (though he'd likely respect the enthusiastic indulgence
in aesthetic pleasure), but the guy looking for a buck and a free
drink would love idolatry when it was convenient and would indulge so
long as the spirits flowed...

In other words, at his serious moments, I see an author in Durrell's
works that refuses to grant resolution or answers to the reader,
because we should rely on our own resources, and if arts shows us
anything (without telling), it's that.  In the whimsical moments, I
also see an author gleefully spreading pure bunk because it will
likely draw in readers who refuse to stand on their own two feet.  I
like to think the most successful moments are when the latter runs
smack into the former, and we're hopefully struck enough to rethink
our willingness to grant authority to the author.

Best to all in the New Year!  My first resolution was to spend less
time on administration, which hopefully will mean actually responding
to some of the interesting posts on here.

Cheers,
James

2010/1/3 Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>:
> Marc, I would have to say LD was never above being pretentious and awkward. ?Happy New Year!
>
>
> Bruce
>
>
> On Jan 3, 2010, at 10:01 AM, Marc Piel wrote:
>
>> Hi Bruce, Happpy New Year.
>> I guess we don't agree!
>> That text was pretentious and awkward; not at all LD style!
>> BR
>> Marc
>>
>> Bruce Redwine a ?crit :
>>> To the contrary, Marc, I think LD would have enjoyed RW's text, which seems indebted to /The Black Book./ ?Did the old guy ever discourage his fans?
>>> Bruce
>>> On Jan 3, 2010, at 5:41 AM, Marc Piel wrote:
>>>> Please excuse me I should not have used the word
>>>> "hate", what I meant was that I felt that
>>>> "Durrell" would not have liked that text about
>>>> LD... ? ?sorry.
>>>> Marc
>>>>
>>>> Marc Piel a ?crit :
>>>>> After reading your post I feel sure that "Durrell"
>>>>> as you call him, would hate you.
>>>>> Nothing personal, just....
>>>>>
>>>>> RW HEDGES a ?crit :
>>>>>> Durrell is an island, that makes sense. New-york and the aftermath
>>>>>> of Paris and London of hard stone and flesh as solid as a broad splayed
>>>>>> shit heap. Chance found me Durrell; floating as light and orange as a
>>>>>> hint of honey and rum in a grape half sqweezed. Marine venus is exactly
>>>>>> the pin point of this moment Bruce pointed out. I have been reading it
>>>>>> as if I was sipping a fine drink. Yet I normally devour the drink or
>>>>>> book far too quickly. I really think that the marine venus is Prosperos
>>>>>> amendment. And that Durrell left Islomania is no surprise. He had his
>>>>>> fill and we can either talk or live it in admiration.
>>>>>> I expect to end up on an island myself if lucky, but what charcters
>>>>>> rise from his books, those places! Cyprus, Corfu and Rhodes....Amazing.
>>>>>> No-one can do more for the earthy sunrise of a Greek morning. I love
>>>>>> him. Simply love him. I will never make a Durrell get together but I
>>>>>> think I love him more each day. Thats because I only care about his
>>>>>> tables and sunsets and holy men and village idiots. Those and the women
>>>>>> he loves to raise from the depths of the clear blue. I love Durrell and
>>>>>> I wear a badge; "Durrell". Cheers David.+++
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access
>>>>>> both. < http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/186394591/direct/01/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> ILDS mailing list
>>>>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ILDS at lists.uvic.ca>
>>>>>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> ILDS mailing list
>>>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ILDS at lists.uvic.ca>
>>>>> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> ILDS mailing list
>>>> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca <mailto: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
>



-- 
_________________________________________
James Gifford, University Core Director
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver
842 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 2P6
http://members.shaw.ca/james.gifford


From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sun Jan  3 19:54:22 2010
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 19:54:22 -0800
Subject: [ilds] The Wise Sage?
In-Reply-To: <2bfc74101001031625o468a090ag2235a0cbc475a8f0@mail.gmail.com>
References: <BAY136-W2596711DA176A202D552E98F7F0@phx.gbl>
	<4B3FA9A4.2070302@interdesign.fr> <4B409E9C.2060500@interdesign.fr>
	<BE450A3A-8006-4A9F-B4F3-7C98013B5935@earthlink.net>
	<4B40DB79.6040305@interdesign.fr>
	<AD911DE8-B3E8-41BB-A326-F8271A772F29@earthlink.net>
	<2bfc74101001031625o468a090ag2235a0cbc475a8f0@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <25C40B47-15B7-4F6F-ADE5-39F09A469A00@earthlink.net>

James,

Deep question about Durrell's intentions and psychology, which has been previously bandied about in various contexts.  If I may cite myself, back on 28 October 2009, I gave my opinion about Durrell's public persona, how he invites speculation about himself and the relationship between his public and private selves.  I still hold that position, namely, that Durrell was an egomaniac and perhaps addicted to publicity in a way similar to being an alcoholic, which he was.  I find it hard to accept that Durrell ever "refus[ed] to play the part of the wise sage."  I know, you may argue that during all those interviews old LD was chuckling and snickering at the gullibility of his interviewers, that he really didn't intend to be taken seriously, that he was just playing the Laurence Sterne game and having a rollicking good time being another Tristram Shandy or his own Pursewarden talking to "Brother Ass," or, finally, that his ruse was some grand strategy to get his listeners "to stand on their own two feet."  Well, I don't buy this.  These levels of irony works for some, but not for me.  I take the idea of the chuckling sage as Durrell's excuse for doing what he did.  I'm rather simpleminded in this regard.  If you don't want to appear like a literary sage, you don't talk like one and expect your audience to see the joke.


Bruce


On Jan 3, 2010, at 4:25 PM, James Gifford wrote:

> I'm curious if there's a way to reconcile Durrell's demonstrable
> willingness to squeeze every penny and ounce of sympathy from fans
> while at the same time refusing to play the part of the wise sage?
> 
> I suppose, for instance, one could compare any of his public readings
> (I have a recording of one in NY) or indulgences in bafflegab during
> interviews versus his consideration of the role of the artist in any
> of the published versions of "No Clue to Living."  In short, my
> suspicion is that the serious LD would "hate" being idolized or looked
> to for answers (though he'd likely respect the enthusiastic indulgence
> in aesthetic pleasure), but the guy looking for a buck and a free
> drink would love idolatry when it was convenient and would indulge so
> long as the spirits flowed...
> 
> In other words, at his serious moments, I see an author in Durrell's
> works that refuses to grant resolution or answers to the reader,
> because we should rely on our own resources, and if arts shows us
> anything (without telling), it's that.  In the whimsical moments, I
> also see an author gleefully spreading pure bunk because it will
> likely draw in readers who refuse to stand on their own two feet.  I
> like to think the most successful moments are when the latter runs
> smack into the former, and we're hopefully struck enough to rethink
> our willingness to grant authority to the author.
> 
> Best to all in the New Year!  My first resolution was to spend less
> time on administration, which hopefully will mean actually responding
> to some of the interesting posts on here.
> 
> Cheers,
> James
> 
> 2010/1/3 Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>:
>> Marc, I would have to say LD was never above being pretentious and awkward.  Happy New Year!
>> 
>> 
>> Bruce
>> 
>> 
>> On Jan 3, 2010, at 10:01 AM, Marc Piel wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi Bruce, Happpy New Year.
>>> I guess we don't agree!
>>> That text was pretentious and awkward; not at all LD style!
>>> BR
>>> Marc
>>> 
>>> Bruce Redwine a ?crit :
>>>> To the contrary, Marc, I think LD would have enjoyed RW's text, which seems indebted to /The Black Book./  Did the old guy ever discourage his fans?
>>>> Bruce
>>>> On Jan 3, 2010, at 5:41 AM, Marc Piel wrote:
>>>>> Please excuse me I should not have used the word
>>>>> "hate", what I meant was that I felt that
>>>>> "Durrell" would not have liked that text about
>>>>> LD...    sorry.
>>>>> Marc
>>>>> 
>>>>> Marc Piel a ?crit :
>>>>>> After reading your post I feel sure that "Durrell"
>>>>>> as you call him, would hate you.
>>>>>> Nothing personal, just....
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> RW HEDGES a ?crit :
>>>>>>> Durrell is an island, that makes sense. New-york and the aftermath
>>>>>>> of Paris and London of hard stone and flesh as solid as a broad splayed
>>>>>>> shit heap. Chance found me Durrell; floating as light and orange as a
>>>>>>> hint of honey and rum in a grape half sqweezed. Marine venus is exactly
>>>>>>> the pin point of this moment Bruce pointed out. I have been reading it
>>>>>>> as if I was sipping a fine drink. Yet I normally devour the drink or
>>>>>>> book far too quickly. I really think that the marine venus is Prosperos
>>>>>>> amendment. And that Durrell left Islomania is no surprise. He had his
>>>>>>> fill and we can either talk or live it in admiration.
>>>>>>> I expect to end up on an island myself if lucky, but what charcters
>>>>>>> rise from his books, those places! Cyprus, Corfu and Rhodes....Amazing.
>>>>>>> No-one can do more for the earthy sunrise of a Greek morning. I love
>>>>>>> him. Simply love him. I will never make a Durrell get together but I
>>>>>>> think I love him more each day. Thats because I only care about his
>>>>>>> tables and sunsets and holy men and village idiots. Those and the women
>>>>>>> he loves to raise from the depths of the clear blue. I love Durrell and
>>>>>>> I wear a badge; "Durrell". Cheers David.+++
>>>>>>>