[ilds] Bisexuality and Beyond

[Anne R Zahlan]

I do agree with James that Durrell privileges "fluidity in sexual identity" and with what I would take as corollary that Durrell did not condemn homosexuality or homosexuals--Scobie is arguably the Quartet's most delightful character. However, this discussion somehow reminded me of a conversation I had with Joseph Boone (of "Queering the Quartet") on the streets of Alexandria.  When I argued against the notion of homophobic elements in Durrell, Boone countered with "What about the Lesbians?"  I did feel compelled to grant him that point, especially on the basis of certain passages in the Quintet. 

Anne

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Gifford" <james.d.gifford at gmail.com>
To: <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 2:57 AM
Subject: Re: [ilds] thank you


> Hi Rony,
> 
> It's worth noting that many of Durrell's ms./ts. letters at various 
> archives relate to books lent but not returned, in particular books lent 
> to Alf Perlès (and probably sold by him)...  My guess is that LD had the 
> 1954 Freud/Fliess, lent and/or lost it, then reacquired the 1960 prior 
> to the release of the Quartet as a whole.  He certainly had it in one 
> form or another, and perhaps one of the English translations will match 
> the epigram (I still think the 1954 does, but I don't have it ready to 
> hand).  Durrell's annotated Groddeck volumes had legs too, walking off 
> to all and sundry.
> 
> I'm quite sure Michael Haag had noted on this listerv that the 
> censorship of the "bisexuality" from the epigram was Faber's work, not 
> Durrell's, and the same occurred for the "modern love," which was 
> originally "bisexual love."  Keeping those two points in mind from the 
> epigram and the "investigation of modern love" certainly revises the 
> nature of the Quartet significantly.  In the opening pages, Cavafy and 
> Balthazar go looking of the young boys, and then the anonymous Darley 
> and his ungendered and unnamed lover go walking about for several 
> sentences before she is finally revealed as female and subsequently as 
> Melissa.
> 
> For LD's works, the openness to various forms of sexualities seems to be 
> present from /Pied Piper/ forward, despite the homophobic jokes in /The 
> Black Book/ (there's still a very good deal of privileging some kind of 
> fluidity in sexual identity in that book as well as some intriguing 
> notions of discovering sexuality over time).  I think the ideas 
> solidified around notions of subjectivity just after the Quartet, hence 
> the peculiarities about identify in /Revolt/ and later in the /Quintet/.
> 
> If you dig anything up on the 1954 copy, please let us know.  I 
> photocopied it somewhere during my graduate work, but I think it's all 
> in a storage locker now...  I'm sure the rest of the list would be 
> interested in whatever you uncover.
> 
> Best,
> James
> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20110321/2174c5a0/attachment.html