[ilds] transcendental dimension in the Dark Labyrinth

[Denise Tart & David Green]

On page 154 of the Faber edition of The Dark Labyrinth that R. W. Hedges gave me in a fit of wine fuelled generosity, the character Fearmax says to Durrell based Campion:

"you are right of course, that we all work through the various states of being, our negatives, our husks, which we discard. but can we, at any given point, know that we've arrived at the end of the quest? Surely the self consciousness of the illumination you talk about does not tell us we have reached the - what shall I say? - The Absolute, God, Tao. it is, on the contrary, that growing awareness which disposes of the act of searching. I think the man you want to be would have a humbler attitude, a passivity towards the whole process - even if he were sitting on an atom bomb. The sage has nothing to tell us, you know. It is by his silence alone that we deduce the fact of his existence."

...Pretty Zen Buddist stuff, I reckon. now of course all the characters in the book are on a quest for something. the metaphoric labyrinth and its 'monster' provide the epiphany that separates the previous life from the realization of the new; Graecen and Baird discover monastic calm, the Truman's find the Tibet of the mind in the mountains with a guru who teaches them the simple self sustaining life..

"..as the season deepened they could hear the roar of avalanches where the higher snow melted upon the desolate face of stone. the wind strummed fitfully in the pines. They might have been in Asia....and his wife lying down with her hands behind her head, smiled up her content and happiness as she chewed a grass stalk. She had realised that the roof of the world did not really exist, except in their own imaginations! (p 255/6)

....And Campion (Durrell) dreaming of Plump bottomed Francesca and holding Virginia's hand leaps from the cliff top into the pregnant void and the waiting sea to embrace the troubled wine dark waters of his artistic future and there is no tied up ending for him.

This only a taste, I know, but if it draws listees towards this metaphoric and transcendental and much neglected piece of Durrell's work, then I shall be able to head off the pub this afternoon secure in the knowledge that this most spiritual of Durrell's works has received appropriate attention.

David


From: Charles Sligh 
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2011 1:33 AM
To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca 
Subject: [ilds] transcendental dimension in the Dark Labyrinth


On 4/22/11 5:39 AM, Meta Cerar wrote: 
    I am so glad that other Durrell fans also find the transcendental dimension in the Dark Labyrinth (which I recently translated into Slovenian). 
Thank you, David and Meta.

Meta:  I imagine that you have spent far more time working closely with the words and the sentences of The Dark Labyrinth than most people.  (I would never count myself as knowledgeable about that book.)  Could you guide us to the key moments of "the transcendental dimension"?  

With appreciation -- and every best wish for your work bringing the writing of Lawrence Durrell to a broader readership.

Charles

-- 
********************************************
Charles L. Sligh
Assistant Professor
Department of English
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
charles-sligh at utc.edu
********************************************


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


_______________________________________________
ILDS mailing list
ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20110423/cc32e0de/attachment.html