[ilds] A History Lesson

[Bruce Redwine]

As David points out, Lawrence Durrell’s works are steeped in history, especially the Quartet and Quintet.  I’m not sure what Ackroyd means by the “theoretical historical inquiries of France and Germany” and will simply mention the following as examples of Continental writers whose treatment of history is anything but “theoretical”:  Mann, Broch, Sebald, Montaigne, Malraux, Yourcenar.

Bruce




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On Oct 1, 2014, at 10:20 PM, James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com> wrote:

> Fine observations here, David!  I'd also note the improving prescription for Gibbon's /Decline and Fall/ in Durrell's /The Black Book/ as well, which seems to be as much for prose style as any historical content.
> 
> Best,
> James
> 
> On 2014-10-01 5:04 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote:
>> "In England history has always been considered a manifestation of
>> literature rather than of scholarship. There has been a blurring of
>> formal boundaries, quite unlike the disciplined or theoretical
>> historical inquiries of France and Germany (the United States????). The
>> sixteenth century theatre, for example, witnessed the particularly
>> English manifestation of the 'history play', and the models for 19th
>> century painting were derived  as much from fiction as from history. *No
>> account of the English imagination is complete without an understanding
>> of this strange yet very practical conflation in which myth or fiction
>> is mixed with observed facts and details."*
>> - Peter Ackroyd, Albion: the Origins of the English Imagination (p 255)
>> Ackroyd goes on to cite John Milton's 'History of England' in which he
>> declared:
>> "that which has received approbation from so many, I have chosen not to
>> omit. Certain or uncertain, be that upon the credit of those who follow.."
>> I could not help but think, as I read these words, how much they apply
>> to Lawrence Durrell. Durrell may have eschewed 'pudding island' but he
>> certainly wrote out of a very English tradition. There is a clear
>> pointer here to idea of amateur, literary historical scholarship to
>> which Durrell indeed belonged. He is, in all his works, a great blender
>> of myth, fiction, history and observed details; a particularly good
>> example of this being 'The Dark Labyrinth', but I would would put up the
>> island books as well as the great novel sets. Perhaps it is indeed these
>> qualities that make Durrell such an appealing writer and one which drew
>> me to him all those years ago when I fell upon Prospero's Cell and being
>> entranced, transported and conscious of having experienced a sea change.
>> David Green
>> 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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