[ilds] The Dark Labyrinth

[James Gifford]

David, you make me think of the Leap section of Durrell's /Panic 
Spring/.  I've long thought those two scenes need to be set beside each 
other...  If so, the imagination take the lead rather than worries about 
"what happened next," or so I like to think.

Best,
James

On 22/04/11 6:33 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote:
> "Rimbaud's solution is always in the air."
> Bruce, I am imagining Campion leaping into the blue Cretan air above the
> even bluer Med, an act of vast faith as water from that height is
> concrete hard. did he die or did he swim to safety...
> DG
>
> *From:* Bruce Redwine <mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
> *Sent:* Saturday, April 23, 2011 4:35 AM
> *To:* ilds at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
> *Cc:* Bruce Redwine <mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
> *Subject:* [ilds] The Dark Labyrinth
>
> Meta,
>
> I'm currently working on an essay dealing with Durrell's use of
> pastoral, which will include aspects of his peculiar "transcendental
> dimension." David Green below encapsulates well, as you note, some of
> those characteristics. I too find /The Dark Labyrinth/ an extraordinary
> work of fiction. Why did Durrell dismiss it? I'd guess because it didn't
> fit in which his grandiose plans for making his mark on world literature
> (hence the need to produce "big works," "man-size piece[s]," i.e.,
> novels in sets, epic fashion). Yes, that's hard. But, if I may expand on
> Frank Kermode's observations /(Critical Inquiry /7 (1980), no. 1,
> 83-101), authors are not always in full control of their material and
> don't always know when they're succeeding or not. As far as the
> "transcendental" goes, the escape into some mythological unknown was
> there at an early age. In a letter to Henry Miller (27 January 1937),
> Durrell writes, "Rimbaud's solution is always in the air." The statement
> is problematic, but I take it to mean that young Durrell is
> romanticizing Arthur Rimbaud's escape into the wilds of Abyssinia, i.e.,
> seeking out some primitive haven not unlike the Roof of the World in
> /DL/. Of course, what Durrell was probably unaware of is that Rimbaud
> was bored stiff with life in remote East Africa. Read his letters to
> /chères mère et sœur./ No matter. The idea of pastoral is more important
> than facts.
>
>
> Bruce
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 22, 2011, at 2:39 AM, Meta Cerar wrote:
>
>> This is beautifully put, thank you for this post. I am so glad that
>> other Durrell fans also find the transcendental dimension in the Dark
>> Labyrinth (which I recently translated into Slovenian). I have always
>> wondered why Durrell himself was so dismissive of this novel? Referred
>> to it as a potboiler, written to pay for the divorce from Nancy. And
>> why was it hardly ever mentioned by his biographers, and not even once
>> in the interviews which were compiled into a book (I think the author
>> was Ingersoll or something similar)?
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Meta Cerar
>>
>> Ljubljana, Slovenia
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *From:*ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca>
>> [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] *On Behalf Of *Denise Tart & David
>> Green
>> *Sent:* Thursday, April 21, 2011 5:00 AM
>> *To:* Durrel
>> *Subject:* [ilds] LGD and the Three Pillars of Happiness
>>
>> LGD was a highly spiritual person and sought enlightenment through a
>> variety of faiths and beliefs: Gnosticism, the cabbala, Buddhism and
>> of the transcendental quest for spirit of place . it pervades all his
>> work and no finer example than that found in Dark Labyrinth and the
>> metaphoric discovery of the Tibetan upland! My feeling is that LGD
>> discovered many elements of spiritual upland when, after the bitter
>> lemons of Cyprus, he went to the Midi with Claude and lived a plain
>> rustic life at the Mazet, in country side he liked, with the woman he
>> loved and doing work he enjoyed - writing and pottering about his
>> farm. The other day Denise said that she heard that the three pillars
>> of happiness are: someone to love, something to do and something to
>> look forward to. I only add that the second pillar is stronger when
>> you like what you do. LGD had all those when with Claude and it was
>> his best time as a man, lover and writer. Later, he did not have love,
>> found writing more difficult and had only the bottle to look forward
>> to ...and female American uni students.
>>
>> David
>>
>> 16 William Street
>> Marrickville NSW 2204
>> + 61 2 9564 6165
>> 0412 707 625
>> www.denisetart.com.au <http://www.denisetart.com.au/>
>>
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