From marc at marcpiel.fr  Mon Mar 14 04:55:06 2016
From: marc at marcpiel.fr (Marc Piel)
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2016 12:55:06 +0100
Subject: [ilds] Inaccuracies
In-Reply-To: <E94E011B-4C72-47E9-8AC3-E6B248912C1B@earthlink.net>
References: <W6036111067421457906551@atl4wm05pod3>
	<E94E011B-4C72-47E9-8AC3-E6B248912C1B@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <1641B83E-F162-4E2E-99C0-EB180500DB20@marcpiel.fr>

You can see bits and pieces of the  BBC version on youtube, but it was a but a caricature..

Envoy? de mon iPad

Le 14 mars 2016 ? 01:12, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> a ?crit :

Let?s be clear and ?real,? if you will.  I have criticized Durrell for stealing other people words, not for borrowing other people?s ideas.  The former, after all, is the legal definition of plagiarism, and Durrell clearly delighted in such dark activity:  ?But darkness is also of my nature? (?In Cairo?), which is itself a sly example of outright theft.  I see nothing wrong with adapting works of art and historical events to suit some artistic purpose.  This is done all the time.  Take for example Ridley Scott?s Kingdom of Heaven (2005) or Exodus:  Gods and Kings (2014), both of which distort and misrepresent history.  This bothers some but not me.  Egyptologists have a field day with exposing the inaccuracies of Scott?s Exodus.  More interesting is the motivation behind the ?travesty.?

Bruce




> On Mar 13, 2016, at 3:02 PM, mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org wrote:
> 
> Inaccuracies? A cameo role for Lesley Caron - star, for younger viewers, of the 1958 movie 'Gigi' playing opposite Maurice Chevalier, and now in her 10th decade. Her role has been invented - a Countess for whom Mrs Durrell goes to work as a companion. Does that sound familiar? Not to readers of MFAOA? Oh no. But it shows how films are made by accountants, not directors or, heaven forbid, the authors of the original text(s)
> Caron's cameo role will ensure it sells to people of a certain age, and, for younger viewers, what the hell does it matter? It's only fiction, after all. 
> Inaccuracies? Caricatures? isn't that what television and fiction are all about. from the News upwards, Gerry started it all with 'Garden of the Gods' so who can blame the Durrell family for giving their name to a travesty? It is only a film. Not a documentary. And if it gives innocent pleasure to millions, where's the harm? Like if they set the AVignon Quintet in LA or Chicago, with Daniel Craig as Blanford and Sutcliffe and Natasha Kinsky as Constance. Who would notice? Who would applaud? And yet we accuse LD of plagiarism because he took passages and ideas fromn other people's work and turned them into an art of his own. Get real.
> RP 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ilds-request at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-request at lists.uvic.ca]
> Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2016 08:00 PM
> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
> Subject: ILDS Digest, Vol 107, Issue 3
> 
> Send ILDS mailing list submissions to ilds at lists.uvic.ca To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to ilds-request at lists.uvic.ca You can reach the person managing the list at ilds-owner at lists.uvic.ca When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of ILDS digest..." Today's Topics: 1. The Durrells (James Gifford) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2016 11:43:33 -0700 From: James Gifford To: ILDS Listserv Subject: [ilds] The Durrells Message-ID: <56E5B4D5.3010508 at gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Hello all, I'm sure many of you have already heard of this, but there's another remake of Gerald Durrell's /My Family and Other Animals/ coming, this time from ITV. The trailer is online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AaZPunbbJo I believe it starts in a couple of weeks. The adaptation is by Simon Nye, which has some real potential. There are sure to be inaccuracies and caricatures, but it might drum up some readers! All best, James ------------------------------ Subject: Digest Footer _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds ------------------------------ End of ILDS Digest, Vol 107, Issue 3 ************************************
> _______________________________________________
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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Mon Mar 14 10:52:23 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2016 10:52:23 -0700
Subject: [ilds] The Novel of Ideas
Message-ID: <F6DB20D6-E595-49E8-B601-1ABA06ACCDB7@earthlink.net>

In the current issue of Deus Loci (NS14), we have two fine reminiscences:  Ian S. MacNiven?s ?Found on the Cutting Room Floor:  Left Out of the Biography? and Peter Baldwin?s ??Sweet Undiscovered Ends?:  A Memoir of Collecting and Publishing Lawrence Durrell.?  Both have something to say about Durrell and the ?novel of ideas.?

MacNiven comments on Durrell?s fallen reputation:  ?Look at Durrell?s contemporaries, look at the Nobelists writing in English during his creative span.  What about Bellow and Golding?  Gifted, yes, but about as parochial as?ingrown toenails? (5).  Baldwin mentions Durrell?s choice of Thoreau?s Walden as the one book he?d put ?in his baggage.?  Walden is a book of personal reflections.  So, ?despite [they?re] being generically classed as ?fiction,? much of [Durrell?s] philosophy as he explained to me can be found directly in the pages of his later novels, collected as The Revolt of Aphrodite and The Avignon Quintet? (21).

MacNiven and Baldwin call attention to Durrell?s deep interest in philosophy.  Although Bellow and Golding are sometimes treated as ?novelists of ideas,? they are only so in a very limited sense, perhaps as ?ingrown toenails.?  They don?t compare with the great Europeans, the Germans/Austrians in particular, for example:  Mann, Musil, and Broch.  These writers dealt with big topics and wrote big novels.  The latter two studied philosophy.  On 9/15/2015, Pankaj Mishra and Benjamin Moser debated the following in NYT?s Sunday Book Review:  ?Whatever Happened to the Novel of Ideas??  Mishra supports the question, Moser rejects it as uninformative.  I side with the Mishra, who repeats Philip Rahv?s argument of 1940.*  (A European by birth and inclination, Rahv was the influential editor of the Partisan Review.)  There are exceptions to Rahv?s claim, of course (Melville), but I take it as basically accurate, especially as pertains to what is taught today in American MFA programs.

I?d offer that Durrell writes ?novels of ideas? in the European tradition, which is no longer in favor in the English speaking world and which is one of the reasons he?s fallen out of favor.  I hope this will change.  Perhaps today?s aspiring writers should study more history and philosophy and less what?literature?  Durrell was an autodidact in his philosophical studies.

Bruce

*Rahv in ?The Cult of Experience in American Writing?:  ?[Henry James] searches for the whereabouts of ?Life? and for the exact conditions of its enrichment.  This is what makes for a fundamental differences between the inner movement of the American and that of the European novel, the novel of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Flaubert and Proust, Joyce, Mann, Lawrence, and Kafka, whose problem is invariable posed in terms of life?s intrinsic worth and destiny.?  See Rahv?s Essays on Literature and Politics, 1932-1972, ed. A. J. Porter and A. J. Dvosin (Boston:  Houghton, 1978):  11.
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From gammage.kennedy at gmail.com  Wed Mar 16 15:35:17 2016
From: gammage.kennedy at gmail.com (Kennedy Gammage)
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2016 15:35:17 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14
Message-ID: <CANDhJnSaHZYj1aBouiL64CnERaa=sm-d2-sW1_QwJy52q1jR9g@mail.gmail.com>

That?s the Lawrence Durrell Journal 2014-2015, edited by Dr. Anna Lillios.
I say enjoying because I am reading it more than once. Here are some first
impressions:

FOUND ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR: LEFT OUT OF THE BIOGRAPHY by Ian S.
MacNiven

What a great way to start the volume with this reminiscence. There are too
many great stories, quotes and observations ? you must read it for
yourself. But I really appreciated this choice of words: ??one has to look
to D. H. Lawrence?s travel writing, to Norman Douglas and Patrick Leigh
Fermor, to find Durrell?s peers in ?foreign residence? writing.? I agree:
_South Wind_ (a novel,) _A Time of Gifts_ (a travel book,) and Durrell?s
foreign residence books are literary peers, related in many respects. But
Durrell is not to be pigeonholed, and in particular I think Prospero?s Cell
is a sport and hybrid, in a category all its own even among its siblings.
That?s why Freya Stark?s ?gem-like miniature quality? blurb continues to
resonate 70 years later.

?SWEET UNDISCOVERED ENDS?: A MEMOIR OF COLLECTING AND PUBLISHING LAWRENCE
DURRELL by Peter Baldwin

As previously noted on the listserv: ?Peter Baldwin just made me laugh out
loud on page 26: "...with no sign of anything non-alcoholic for the
children."? This is a charming and very funny reminiscence about Baldwin?s
dealings with our hero. Please note that MacNiven quoted a similar story
from Katie Wheelock that ?Larry was very nice with the children ? he soon
got their three-year-old son tipsy on champagne.? Larry either didn?t have
a taste for fruit juice around the house or just preferred the fermented
variety!

GHOSTS AND SHAPE-SHIFTING DOPPELGANGERS: EXPLORING THE UNCANNY IN LAWRENCE
DURRELL?S AVIGNON QUINTET by Dianne Vipond

I really wanted to like this article because I respect Dr. Vipond, but my
main reservation is: I feel that many academics have a tough time
associating Lawrence Durrell with science-fiction ( words he himself used
in Balthazar) and fantasy writing ? so instead they resort to code words
like ?post-modern.? Or ?the uncanny.? Listen ? when Durrell was talking
about some of his characters coming from ?other time-fields and other
contingent realities? in Quinx ? you can describe that as uncanny, but I
think it would be fairer to call it SF.

JUDITH: A NOVEL BY LAWRENCE DURRELL by Richard Pine

This was fascinating. Hollywood demands multiple rewrites, and Durrell?s
endlessly inventive brain could supply them! Some of the plot and character
shifts in his drafts are seismic and disconcerting ? but always there is a
kind of twisted companion story to the Quartet: Justine & Judith in
Palestine.

?IT IS NOT MEANING THAT WE NEED BUT SIGHT?: LAWRENCE DURRELL?S RED LIMBO
LINGO AS A POETIC QUEST FOR FREEDOM by Isabelle Privat-Keller

Wow. This was very interesting. Unfortunately I haven?t read Red Limbo
Lingo but I would like to now.

A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES: LAWRENCE DURRELL, HASSAN FATHY, AND THE STORY OF
GOURNA by David
Roessel and Gerald L. Vincent
Check out the pictures! A good one of Larry on Cyprus. This is also about
Durrell?s friend Austen Harrison. Was Caradoc from the Revolt based on him?
They were both architects. Yes, here it is on page 102: ?The more one
looks, the more one sees links to Harrison in the creation of Caradoc.?

CURATE?S EGG ON HIS FACE: BEING A REPLY TO MAHMOUD MANZALAOUI?S ?CURATE?S
EGG: AN ALEXANDRIAN OPINION OF DURRELL?S QUARTET? by Michael Haag

This was great ? a classic scholarly beat-down. Haag takes this poser out ?
but what took you so long? Manzalaoui published this squalid and slanderous
misreading of the AQ in ?62! Haag wrestles him to the ground point by
point: it?s an entertaining and beautiful piece of argumentative rhetoric.
It?s also pretty funny how many Durrell scholars Haag mentions who were
taken in by MM?s egg.

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF LONDON IN THE WRITING OF LAWRENCE DURRELL by Paul
Lorenz

Very interesting. Of course when you think about it, London was formative
?foreign residence? material for Durrell from the get-go:  ages 11 to 23.
Right ? welcome to ould blighty mate. Dr. Lorenz delivers a panoramic
overview of the very different ways Larry treated the place over time in
his poetry and prose.  ??there are many Londons reflected in Durrell?s
eyes.?

ENDGAME: FROM THE CLOSURE OF TEXTS TO THE ENDING OF A LIFETIME?S OUEVRE by
Corinne Alexandre-Garner

How did all the books end, and what did he intend to convey in those
endings? It?s a fascinating question, which leads to a discussion of his
last book: Caesar?s Vast Ghost, ??the published copy of which Durrell
received by mail the day before his death in November 1990.? That was a
true valedictory ? though I?m sure he would have liked it more if it came
with a check.

#

I?m recusing myself from reviewing the POETRY because I?m still sulking -
but I thought was all very fine.

Under Notes & Queries there is another essay, and it?s a corker:

LAWRENCE DURRELL AND THE INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT IN CYPRUS by
Jonathan Stubbs

Anyone who likes BITTER LEMONS (and who doesn?t ? but dammit can?t you all
see that Bitter Lemons is a foreign residence book, not a ?travel book??) -
*ahem* sorry. You really need to read this essay! Fascinating
recently-declassified materials from the official Pudding Island Archives
about what Durrell was up to in 1954, running the Cyprus Broadcasting
Service (CBS.) Gets down to the nitty-gritty level of imperialist
propaganda to bring a colonial outpost back into line at a critical time.
Maybe the highlight of the volume considering the factual documentation.

#

I would like to generally caution the editor of the REVIEWS section to more
studiously avoid what I call ?log rolling.? Authors included in this very
volume review or are reviewed in a somewhat incestuous muddle. That being
said ? there are gems as usual. Michael Haag reviews Dr. Kaczvinsky?s
Durrell and the City: Collected Essays on Place, which flowed from the
enjoyable OMG I attended in New Orleans in 2010, and he is nonplussed by
the negativity of Alan Friedman?s reappraisal of the AQ:  50 Years Later.
This was in fact the keynote of the conference, and it was a blast of cold
water in the face! Definitely woke me up at the time ? Dr. Friedman is a
great speaker. You will find my own paper from the conference, ?The
Characters in Durrell?s Avignon Quintet   Real or imaginary - or both?? in
A CAF? IN SPACE The Anais Nin Literary Journal Vol. 9 from 2012.

The volume closes out with Grove Koger?s  valuable DURRELL BIBLIOGRAPHY
1999 ? 2002. An excellent resource which is gradually being brought up to
date.

OK ? that?s it. The ILDS owes a huge debt of gratitude to Dr. Lillios for
all her hard work in bringing out another key milestone in Durrell studies.
As usual ? I am hungry for NS15!

Best regards - Ken
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From delospeter at hotmail.com  Wed Mar 16 20:35:27 2016
From: delospeter at hotmail.com (PETER BALDWIN)
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 03:35:27 +0000
Subject: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14
In-Reply-To: <CANDhJnSaHZYj1aBouiL64CnERaa=sm-d2-sW1_QwJy52q1jR9g@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CANDhJnSaHZYj1aBouiL64CnERaa=sm-d2-sW1_QwJy52q1jR9g@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <DUB408-EAS104959AD5631FD5A85A3917C88B0@phx.gbl>

Thanks for this, Ken

I am awaiting my copy in England and pause to thank Paul Lorenz who had to stick extra labels to the copies leaving the US

Peter

Sent from my iPhone

> On 16 Mar 2016, at 23:27, Kennedy Gammage <gammage.kennedy at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> That?s the Lawrence Durrell Journal 2014-2015, edited by Dr. Anna Lillios. I say enjoying because I am reading it more than once. Here are some first impressions:
> 
> FOUND ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR: LEFT OUT OF THE BIOGRAPHY by Ian S. MacNiven
> 
> What a great way to start the volume with this reminiscence. There are too many great stories, quotes and observations ? you must read it for yourself. But I really appreciated this choice of words: ??one has to look to D. H. Lawrence?s travel writing, to Norman Douglas and Patrick Leigh Fermor, to find Durrell?s peers in ?foreign residence? writing.? I agree: _South Wind_ (a novel,) _A Time of Gifts_ (a travel book,) and Durrell?s foreign residence books are literary peers, related in many respects. But Durrell is not to be pigeonholed, and in particular I think Prospero?s Cell is a sport and hybrid, in a category all its own even among its siblings. That?s why Freya Stark?s ?gem-like miniature quality? blurb continues to resonate 70 years later.
> 
> ?SWEET UNDISCOVERED ENDS?: A MEMOIR OF COLLECTING AND PUBLISHING LAWRENCE DURRELL by Peter Baldwin
> 
> As previously noted on the listserv: ?Peter Baldwin just made me laugh out loud on page 26: "...with no sign of anything non-alcoholic for the children."? This is a charming and very funny reminiscence about Baldwin?s dealings with our hero. Please note that MacNiven quoted a similar story from Katie Wheelock that ?Larry was very nice with the children ? he soon got their three-year-old son tipsy on champagne.? Larry either didn?t have a taste for fruit juice around the house or just preferred the fermented variety!
> 
> GHOSTS AND SHAPE-SHIFTING DOPPELGANGERS: EXPLORING THE UNCANNY IN LAWRENCE DURRELL?S AVIGNON QUINTET by Dianne Vipond
> 
> I really wanted to like this article because I respect Dr. Vipond, but my main reservation is: I feel that many academics have a tough time associating Lawrence Durrell with science-fiction ( words he himself used in Balthazar) and fantasy writing ? so instead they resort to code words like ?post-modern.? Or ?the uncanny.? Listen ? when Durrell was talking about some of his characters coming from ?other time-fields and other contingent realities? in Quinx ? you can describe that as uncanny, but I think it would be fairer to call it SF.
> 
> JUDITH: A NOVEL BY LAWRENCE DURRELL by Richard Pine
> 
> This was fascinating. Hollywood demands multiple rewrites, and Durrell?s endlessly inventive brain could supply them! Some of the plot and character shifts in his drafts are seismic and disconcerting ? but always there is a kind of twisted companion story to the Quartet: Justine & Judith in Palestine.
> 
> ?IT IS NOT MEANING THAT WE NEED BUT SIGHT?: LAWRENCE DURRELL?S RED LIMBO LINGO AS A POETIC QUEST FOR FREEDOM by Isabelle Privat-Keller
> 
> Wow. This was very interesting. Unfortunately I haven?t read Red Limbo Lingo but I would like to now.
> 
> A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES: LAWRENCE DURRELL, HASSAN FATHY, AND THE STORY OF GOURNA by David
> Roessel and Gerald L. Vincent
> Check out the pictures! A good one of Larry on Cyprus. This is also about Durrell?s friend Austen Harrison. Was Caradoc from the Revolt based on him? They were both architects. Yes, here it is on page 102: ?The more one looks, the more one sees links to Harrison in the creation of Caradoc.?
> 
> CURATE?S EGG ON HIS FACE: BEING A REPLY TO MAHMOUD MANZALAOUI?S ?CURATE?S EGG: AN ALEXANDRIAN OPINION OF DURRELL?S QUARTET? by Michael Haag
> 
> This was great ? a classic scholarly beat-down. Haag takes this poser out ? but what took you so long? Manzalaoui published this squalid and slanderous misreading of the AQ in ?62! Haag wrestles him to the ground point by point: it?s an entertaining and beautiful piece of argumentative rhetoric. It?s also pretty funny how many Durrell scholars Haag mentions who were taken in by MM?s egg. 
> 
> THE METAMORPHOSIS OF LONDON IN THE WRITING OF LAWRENCE DURRELL by Paul Lorenz
> 
> Very interesting. Of course when you think about it, London was formative ?foreign residence? material for Durrell from the get-go:  ages 11 to 23. Right ? welcome to ould blighty mate. Dr. Lorenz delivers a panoramic overview of the very different ways Larry treated the place over time in his poetry and prose.  ??there are many Londons reflected in Durrell?s eyes.?
> 
> ENDGAME: FROM THE CLOSURE OF TEXTS TO THE ENDING OF A LIFETIME?S OUEVRE by Corinne Alexandre-Garner
> 
> How did all the books end, and what did he intend to convey in those endings? It?s a fascinating question, which leads to a discussion of his last book: Caesar?s Vast Ghost, ??the published copy of which Durrell received by mail the day before his death in November 1990.? That was a true valedictory ? though I?m sure he would have liked it more if it came with a check. 
> 
> #
> 
> I?m recusing myself from reviewing the POETRY because I?m still sulking - but I thought was all very fine. 
> 
> Under Notes & Queries there is another essay, and it?s a corker:
> 
> LAWRENCE DURRELL AND THE INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT IN CYPRUS by Jonathan Stubbs
> 
> Anyone who likes BITTER LEMONS (and who doesn?t ? but dammit can?t you all see that Bitter Lemons is a foreign residence book, not a ?travel book??) - *ahem* sorry. You really need to read this essay! Fascinating recently-declassified materials from the official Pudding Island Archives about what Durrell was up to in 1954, running the Cyprus Broadcasting Service (CBS.) Gets down to the nitty-gritty level of imperialist propaganda to bring a colonial outpost back into line at a critical time. Maybe the highlight of the volume considering the factual documentation.
> 
> #
> 
> I would like to generally caution the editor of the REVIEWS section to more studiously avoid what I call ?log rolling.? Authors included in this very volume review or are reviewed in a somewhat incestuous muddle. That being said ? there are gems as usual. Michael Haag reviews Dr. Kaczvinsky?s Durrell and the City: Collected Essays on Place, which flowed from the enjoyable OMG I attended in New Orleans in 2010, and he is nonplussed by the negativity of Alan Friedman?s reappraisal of the AQ:  50 Years Later. This was in fact the keynote of the conference, and it was a blast of cold water in the face! Definitely woke me up at the time ? Dr. Friedman is a great speaker. You will find my own paper from the conference, ?The Characters in Durrell?s Avignon Quintet   Real or imaginary - or both?? in A CAF? IN SPACE The Anais Nin Literary Journal Vol. 9 from 2012.
> 
> The volume closes out with Grove Koger?s  valuable DURRELL BIBLIOGRAPHY 1999 ? 2002. An excellent resource which is gradually being brought up to date.  
> 
> OK ? that?s it. The ILDS owes a huge debt of gratitude to Dr. Lillios for all her hard work in bringing out another key milestone in Durrell studies. As usual ? I am hungry for NS15!
> 
> Best regards - Ken
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds


From james.d.gifford at gmail.com  Wed Mar 16 20:45:01 2016
From: james.d.gifford at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2016 20:45:01 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14
In-Reply-To: <DUB408-EAS104959AD5631FD5A85A3917C88B0@phx.gbl>
References: <CANDhJnSaHZYj1aBouiL64CnERaa=sm-d2-sW1_QwJy52q1jR9g@mail.gmail.com>
	<DUB408-EAS104959AD5631FD5A85A3917C88B0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <56EA283D.1020607@gmail.com>

On 2016-03-16 8:35 PM, PETER BALDWIN wrote:
> pause to thank Paul Lorenz who had to stick extra
> labels to the copies leaving the US

Amen to Saint Paul!

From anna at ucf.edu  Thu Mar 17 05:53:02 2016
From: anna at ucf.edu (Anna Lillios)
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 12:53:02 +0000
Subject: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14
In-Reply-To: <56EA283D.1020607@gmail.com>
References: <CANDhJnSaHZYj1aBouiL64CnERaa=sm-d2-sW1_QwJy52q1jR9g@mail.gmail.com>
	<DUB408-EAS104959AD5631FD5A85A3917C88B0@phx.gbl>,
	<56EA283D.1020607@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <2194B1722719C648BE6369F371F5DD1B997674AF@NET5013.net.ucf.edu>

Paul not only had to stick extra labels on the issues (the easy part), but he had to fill out a custom form for each issue.  Thanks, Paul!  Attached is DL14's TOC, to whet your appetite for those of you in Europe.

     Anna




Dr. Anna Lillios
Professor of English
University of Central Florida
P.O. Box 161346
Orlando, FL  32816-1346

Phone:    (407) 823-5596 (English Department)
FAX:      (407) 823-3300
Email:     Anna at ucf.edu

Editor, Deus Loci: The Lawrence Durrell Journal


________________________________________
From: ILDS [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] on behalf of James Gifford [james.d.gifford at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 11:45 PM
To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
Subject: Re: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14

On 2016-03-16 8:35 PM, PETER BALDWIN wrote:
> pause to thank Paul Lorenz who had to stick extra
> labels to the copies leaving the US

Amen to Saint Paul!
_______________________________________________
ILDS mailing list
ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu Mar 17 13:10:17 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 13:10:17 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
Message-ID: <9188D7EA-3ED2-49F4-AAF7-1DB34D831491@earthlink.net>

David Roessel and Gerald L. Vincent?s ?A Tale of Two Villages:  Lawrence Durrell, Hassan Fathy, and the Story of Gourna,? Deus Loci, NS 14 (2014-2015):  85-103.

A couple of questions and a comment about this informative article.

1.  As the authors indicate, the village of Gourna is in Upper Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor on the east bank.  I seriously doubt that Durrell was ever aware of the village during his stay in Egypt.  In fact, Durrell?s knowledge of Upper Egypt seems to have been very limited.  Chamberlin in his Chronology mentions Durrell undertaking a ?brief holiday? to Aswan in 1943.  I can find no other mention of travels up the Nile during LD?s first stay in Egypt.  Is this correct?

2.  Austen Harrison was Durrell?s close friend, to whom he dedicated Bitter Lemons.  The authors indicate Harrison shared Scobie?s ?tendencies?:  ?Durrell surely knew that Harrison had them [?tendencies?].?  Have I missed something?  Harrison was a homosexual?

3.  The authors conclude by mildly criticizing Durrell for not mentioning that Hassan Fathy?s village and book inspired his future work.  This is not plagiarism, as has been previously discussed, but it is typical of Durrell?s method?he frequently conceals his sources, either deliberately or not.   In 1978, Durrell publishes a travel piece on his return to Egypt (NYT?s ?Egyptian Moments,? see Gifford?s Elephant?s Back, pp. 359-78).  Roessel and Vincent believe that Durrell should have ?inform[ed]? his ?reader? of indebtedness to Fathy (p.94).  I agree.

Bruce
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From james.d.gifford at gmail.com  Thu Mar 17 13:26:25 2016
From: james.d.gifford at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 13:26:25 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
In-Reply-To: <9188D7EA-3ED2-49F4-AAF7-1DB34D831491@earthlink.net>
References: <9188D7EA-3ED2-49F4-AAF7-1DB34D831491@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <56EB12F1.1060200@gmail.com>

Hi Bruce,

On 2016-03-17 1:10 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
> 3.  The authors conclude by mildly criticizing Durrell for not
> mentioning that Hassan Fathy?s village and book inspired his future
> work... In 1978, Durrell publishes a travel piece
> on his return to Egypt /(NYT?s/ ?Egyptian Moments,? see Gifford?s
> /Elephant?s Back,/ pp. 359-78).  Roessel and Vincent believe that
> Durrell should have ?inform[ed]? his ?reader? of indebtedness to Fathy
> (p.94).  I agree.

I haven't received my copy of /DL/ yet, so this is hasty, but yes, 
Durrell does discuss Fathy and Gourna in his 1978 piece "With Durrell in 
Egypt" and mentions Fathy's 1973 /Architecture for the Poor/.

As you know, I find it hard not to see the mud brick from Gourna as a 
political gesture -- he's explicit in saying it is "something more."

All best,
James

From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Thu Mar 17 13:56:37 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 13:56:37 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
In-Reply-To: <56EB12F1.1060200@gmail.com>
References: <9188D7EA-3ED2-49F4-AAF7-1DB34D831491@earthlink.net>
	<56EB12F1.1060200@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <FFBD370B-47D8-4BC4-B48E-1CE50BF7D578@earthlink.net>

James,

The context of Roessel and Vincent?s remark is that Durrell?s does not acknowledge his indebtedness to his own work, i.e., an unfinished novel and later Revolt.  So they assert:

Yet, in all the fulsome praise of Fathy?s model village and his book, Durrell gave no sign that in 1956 he was inspired by the story of Gourna to start a novel and that he returned to it various times between 1958 and 1964 before he transformed the work into the published Tunc and Nunquam.  Nor, in Durrell?s discussion of Fathy in ?With Durrell in Egypt? does he ever inform the reader of what Caradoc had declared in the typescript two decades earlier, that Gourna was the perfect village that ?no one ever lived in.?  (p. 94)

I think, unless I once again miss something, that Durrell?s riff on Egyptian ?mud bricks? is a classic Durrellian touch but not relevant to Roessel and Vincent?s criticism.


Bruce

> On Mar 17, 2016, at 1:26 PM, James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Bruce,
> 
> On 2016-03-17 1:10 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>> 3.  The authors conclude by mildly criticizing Durrell for not
>> mentioning that Hassan Fathy?s village and book inspired his future
>> work... In 1978, Durrell publishes a travel piece
>> on his return to Egypt /(NYT?s/ ?Egyptian Moments,? see Gifford?s
>> /Elephant?s Back,/ pp. 359-78).  Roessel and Vincent believe that
>> Durrell should have ?inform[ed]? his ?reader? of indebtedness to Fathy
>> (p.94).  I agree.
> 
> I haven't received my copy of /DL/ yet, so this is hasty, but yes, Durrell does discuss Fathy and Gourna in his 1978 piece "With Durrell in Egypt" and mentions Fathy's 1973 /Architecture for the Poor/.
> 
> As you know, I find it hard not to see the mud brick from Gourna as a political gesture -- he's explicit in saying it is "something more."
> 
> All best,
> James
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

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From timlot at comcast.net  Thu Mar 17 16:17:30 2016
From: timlot at comcast.net (Merrianne Timko)
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 18:17:30 -0500
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
In-Reply-To: <FFBD370B-47D8-4BC4-B48E-1CE50BF7D578@earthlink.net>
References: <9188D7EA-3ED2-49F4-AAF7-1DB34D831491@earthlink.net>	<56EB12F1.1060200@gmail.com>
	<FFBD370B-47D8-4BC4-B48E-1CE50BF7D578@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <012e01d180a3$2f572580$8e057080$@comcast.net>

A quick aside. 

I had the opportunity to have Hassan Fathy as a lecturer at the American
University of Cairo in 1973. Sadly, even then, Gourna was already crumbling
and unpopular with local residents. It was a utopian design with good
intentions. 

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/newgournaupdate.htm

Merrianne

 

From: ILDS [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 3:57 PM
To: James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com>; Sumantra Nag
<ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
Cc: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna

 

James,

 

The context of Roessel and Vincent's remark is that Durrell's does not
acknowledge his indebtedness to his own work, i.e., an unfinished novel and
later Revolt.  So they assert:

 

Yet, in all the fulsome praise of Fathy's model village and his book,
Durrell gave no sign that in 1956 he was inspired by the story of Gourna to
start a novel and that he returned to it various times between 1958 and 1964
before he transformed the work into the published Tunc and Nunquam.  Nor, in
Durrell's discussion of Fathy in "With Durrell in Egypt" does he ever inform
the reader of what Caradoc had declared in the typescript two decades
earlier, that Gourna was the perfect village that "no one ever lived in."
(p. 94)

 

I think, unless I once again miss something, that Durrell's riff on Egyptian
"mud bricks" is a classic Durrellian touch but not relevant to Roessel and
Vincent's criticism.

 

 

Bruce

 

On Mar 17, 2016, at 1:26 PM, James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com
<mailto:james.d.gifford at gmail.com> > wrote:

 

Hi Bruce,

On 2016-03-17 1:10 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:



3.  The authors conclude by mildly criticizing Durrell for not
mentioning that Hassan Fathy's village and book inspired his future
work... In 1978, Durrell publishes a travel piece
on his return to Egypt /(NYT's/ "Egyptian Moments," see Gifford's
/Elephant's Back,/ pp. 359-78).  Roessel and Vincent believe that
Durrell should have "inform[ed]" his "reader" of indebtedness to Fathy
(p.94).  I agree.


I haven't received my copy of /DL/ yet, so this is hasty, but yes, Durrell
does discuss Fathy and Gourna in his 1978 piece "With Durrell in Egypt" and
mentions Fathy's 1973 /Architecture for the Poor/.

As you know, I find it hard not to see the mud brick from Gourna as a
political gesture -- he's explicit in saying it is "something more."

All best,
James
_______________________________________________
ILDS mailing list
ILDS at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ILDS at lists.uvic.ca> 
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

 

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From mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org  Fri Mar 18 02:08:28 2016
From: mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org (mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org)
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 09:08:28 +0000
Subject: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 107, Issue 5
Message-ID: <W908632517680181458292108@atl4wm04pod3>

Someone on this list forwarded Bruce's questions and comments (below) since the  original (as so often with this list)  never reached me.
Regarding Austen Harrison, LD did consult him about building matters: I have quoted the questions he posed to Harrison ("What is a theodolite? What does it do?"....) on p.315 of my "Mindscape" (2nd edn). The Durrell Libraryof Corfu has copies of LD's typed questions, with Harrison's handwritten replies.
Regarding the origins of "Tunc/Nunquam" I have not yet seen the Roessel/Vincent article yet, altho I'm aware that they have been working on this subject for many years now. The fons et origo, as far as the architectural side of things go, was the story "Village of Turtle Doves", which morphed into the full-length (and unpublished) "The Placebo".
Regarding the Caradoc/Harrison possible inspiration, why not? I was not aware that Harrison was homosexual, and maybe that is not what Roessel/Vincent have in mind. And so what? If (let's say) Harrison was the ONLY architect with whom LD was friendly, why should Caradoc not have some (repeat: SOME) of Harrison's characteristics? Is Caradoc homosexual? is, perhaps a more important question for critics than Harrison's sexual orientation, which may or may not be a matter for architectural historians, not literary critics. Perhaps the ferrets would like to concentrate on his first neme being taken from that of a woman novelist to whom he is said to have been related?
As to whether or not LD knew of Gourna and whether or not, if he did, he should have acknowledged Fathy's work, I think it's likely that he did know of the plan to rebuild the old village, but why in a work of fiction should he be obliged to signpost a 'real' project or its architect? This is taking fiction too far. We might as well say that a novel in which the earth goes round the sun should acknowledge Galileo as a source. This is for people who cannot read books except to criticise them. 'Enjoy!' was NOT written above the door of the Academy, it seems.
RP


David Roessel and Gerald L. Vincent?s ?A Tale of Two Villages: Lawrence Durrell, Hassan Fathy, and the Story of Gourna,? Deus Loci, NS 14 (2014-2015): 85-103.

A couple of questions and a comment about this informative article.


1. As the authors indicate, the village of Gourna is in Upper Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor on the east bank. I seriously doubt that Durrell was ever aware of the village during his stay in Egypt. In fact, Durrell?s knowledge of Upper Egypt seems to have been very limited. Chamberlin in his Chronology mentions Durrell undertaking a ?brief holiday? to Aswan in 1943. I can find no other mention of travels up the Nile during LD?s first stay in Egypt. Is this correct?


2. Austen Harrison was Durrell?s close friend, to whom he dedicated Bitter Lemons. The authors indicate Harrison shared Scobie?s ?tendencies?: ?Durrell surely knew that Harrison had them [?tendencies?].? Have I missed something? Harrison was a homosexual?


3. The authors conclude by mildly criticizing Durrell for not mentioning that Hassan Fathy?s village and book inspired his future work. This is not plagiarism, as has been previously discussed, but it is typical of Durrell?s method?he frequently conceals his sources, either deliberately or not. In 1978, Durrell publishes a travel piece on his return to Egypt (NYT?s ?Egyptian Moments,? see Gifford?s Elephant?s Back, pp. 359-78). Roessel and Vincent believe that Durrell should have ?inform[ed]? his ?reader? of indebtedness to Fathy (p.94). I agree.



Bruce
-----Original Message-----
From: ilds-request at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-request at lists.uvic.ca]
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 08:00 PM
To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
Subject: ILDS Digest, Vol 107, Issue 5

Send ILDS mailing list submissions to	ilds at lists.uvic.caTo subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit	https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ildsor, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to	ilds-request at lists.uvic.caYou can reach the person managing the list at	ilds-owner at lists.uvic.caWhen replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specificthan "Re: Contents of ILDS digest..."Today's Topics: 1. Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14 (Kennedy Gammage) 2. Re: Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14 (PETER BALDWIN) 3. Re: Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14 (James Gifford) 4. Re: Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14 (Anna Lillios)----------------------------------------------------------------------Message: 1Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2016 15:35:17 -0700From: Kennedy Gammage To: ilds at lists.uvic.caSubject: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14Message-ID:	Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"That?s the Lawrence Durrell Journal 2014-2015, edited by Dr. Anna Lillios.I say enjoying because I am reading it more than once. Here are some firstimpressions:FOUND ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR: LEFT OUT OF THE BIOGRAPHY by Ian S.MacNivenWhat a great way to start the volume with this reminiscence. There are toomany great stories, quotes and observations ? you must read it foryourself. But I really appreciated this choice of words: ??one has to lookto D. H. Lawrence?s travel writing, to Norman Douglas and Patrick LeighFermor, to find Durrell?s peers in ?foreign residence? writing.? I agree:_South Wind_ (a novel,) _A Time of Gifts_ (a travel book,) and Durrell?sforeign residence books are literary peers, related in many respects. ButDurrell is not to be pigeonholed, and in particular I think Prospero?s Cellis a sport and hybrid, in a category all its own even among its siblings.That?s why Freya Stark?s ?gem-like miniature quality? blurb continues toresonate 70 years later.?SWEET UNDISCOVERED ENDS?: A MEMOIR OF COLLECTING AND PUBLISHING LAWRENCEDURRELL by Peter BaldwinAs previously noted on the listserv: ?Peter Baldwin just made me laugh outloud on page 26: "...with no sign of anything non-alcoholic for thechildren."? This is a charming and very funny reminiscence about Baldwin?sdealings with our hero. Please note that MacNiven quoted a similar storyfrom Katie Wheelock that ?Larry was very nice with the children ? he soongot their three-year-old son tipsy on champagne.? Larry either didn?t havea taste for fruit juice around the house or just preferred the fermentedvariety!GHOSTS AND SHAPE-SHIFTING DOPPELGANGERS: EXPLORING THE UNCANNY IN LAWRENCEDURRELL?S AVIGNON QUINTET by Dianne VipondI really wanted to like this article because I respect Dr. Vipond, but mymain reservation is: I feel that many academics have a tough timeassociating Lawrence Durrell with science-fiction ( words he himself usedin Balthazar) and fantasy writing ? so instead they resort to code wordslike ?post-modern.? Or ?the uncanny.? Listen ? when Durrell was talkingabout some of his characters coming from ?other time-fields and othercontingent realities? in Quinx ? you can describe that as uncanny, but Ithink it would be fairer to call it SF.JUDITH: A NOVEL BY LAWRENCE DURRELL by Richard PineThis was fascinating. Hollywood demands multiple rewrites, and Durrell?sendlessly inventive brain could supply them! Some of the plot and charactershifts in his drafts are seismic and disconcerting ? but always there is akind of twisted companion story to the Quartet: Justine & Judith inPalestine.?IT IS NOT MEANING THAT WE NEED BUT SIGHT?: LAWRENCE DURRELL?S RED LIMBOLINGO AS A POETIC QUEST FOR FREEDOM by Isabelle Privat-KellerWow. This was very interesting. Unfortunately I haven?t read Red LimboLingo but I would like to now.A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES: LAWRENCE DURRELL, HASSAN FATHY, AND THE STORY OFGOURNA by DavidRoessel and Gerald L. VincentCheck out the pictures! A good one of Larry on Cyprus. This is also aboutDurrell?s friend Austen Harrison. Was Caradoc from the Revolt based on him?They were both architects. Yes, here it is on page 102: ?The more onelooks, the more one sees links to Harrison in the creation of Caradoc.?CURATE?S EGG ON HIS FACE: BEING A REPLY TO MAHMOUD MANZALAOUI?S ?CURATE?SEGG: AN ALEXANDRIAN OPINION OF DURRELL?S QUARTET? by Michael HaagThis was great ? a classic scholarly beat-down. Haag takes this poser out ?but what took you so long? Manzalaoui published this squalid and slanderousmisreading of the AQ in ?62! Haag wrestles him to the ground point bypoint: it?s an entertaining and beautiful piece of argumentative rhetoric.It?s also pretty funny how many Durrell scholars Haag mentions who weretaken in by MM?s egg.THE METAMORPHOSIS OF LONDON IN THE WRITING OF LAWRENCE DURRELL by PaulLorenzVery interesting. Of course when you think about it, London was formative?foreign residence? material for Durrell from the get-go: ages 11 to 23.Right ? welcome to ould blighty mate. Dr. Lorenz delivers a panoramicoverview of the very different ways Larry treated the place over time inhis poetry and prose. ??there are many Londons reflected in Durrell?seyes.?ENDGAME: FROM THE CLOSURE OF TEXTS TO THE ENDING OF A LIFETIME?S OUEVRE byCorinne Alexandre-GarnerHow did all the books end, and what did he intend to convey in thoseendings? It?s a fascinating question, which leads to a discussion of hislast book: Caesar?s Vast Ghost, ??the published copy of which Durrellreceived by mail the day before his death in November 1990.? That was atrue valedictory ? though I?m sure he would have liked it more if it camewith a check.#I?m recusing myself from reviewing the POETRY because I?m still sulking -but I thought was all very fine.Under Notes & Queries there is another essay, and it?s a corker:LAWRENCE DURRELL AND THE INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT IN CYPRUS byJonathan StubbsAnyone who likes BITTER LEMONS (and who doesn?t ? but dammit can?t you allsee that Bitter Lemons is a foreign residence book, not a ?travel book??) -*ahem* sorry. You really need to read this essay! Fascinatingrecently-declassified materials from the official Pudding Island Archivesabout what Durrell was up to in 1954, running the Cyprus BroadcastingService (CBS.) Gets down to the nitty-gritty level of imperialistpropaganda to bring a colonial outpost back into line at a critical time.Maybe the highlight of the volume considering the factual documentation.#I would like to generally caution the editor of the REVIEWS section to morestudiously avoid what I call ?log rolling.? Authors included in this veryvolume review or are reviewed in a somewhat incestuous muddle. That beingsaid ? there are gems as usual. Michael Haag reviews Dr. Kaczvinsky?sDurrell and the City: Collected Essays on Place, which flowed from theenjoyable OMG I attended in New Orleans in 2010, and he is nonplussed bythe negativity of Alan Friedman?s reappraisal of the AQ: 50 Years Later.This was in fact the keynote of the conference, and it was a blast of coldwater in the face! Definitely woke me up at the time ? Dr. Friedman is agreat speaker. You will find my own paper from the conference, ?TheCharacters in Durrell?s Avignon Quintet Real or imaginary - or both?? inA CAF? IN SPACE The Anais Nin Literary Journal Vol. 9 from 2012.The volume closes out with Grove Koger?s valuable DURRELL BIBLIOGRAPHY1999 ? 2002. An excellent resource which is gradually being brought up todate.OK ? that?s it. The ILDS owes a huge debt of gratitude to Dr. Lillios forall her hard work in bringing out another key milestone in Durrell studies.As usual ? I am hungry for NS15!Best regards - Ken-------------- next part --------------An HTML attachment was scrubbed...URL: ------------------------------Message: 2Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 03:35:27 +0000From: PETER BALDWIN To: Subject: Re: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"Thanks for this, KenI am awaiting my copy in England and pause to thank Paul Lorenz who had to stick extra labels to the copies leaving the USPeterSent from my iPhone> On 16 Mar 2016, at 23:27, Kennedy Gammage  wrote:> > That?s the Lawrence Durrell Journal 2014-2015, edited by Dr. Anna Lillios. I say enjoying because I am reading it more than once. Here are some first impressions:> > FOUND ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR: LEFT OUT OF THE BIOGRAPHY by Ian S. MacNiven> > What a great way to start the volume with this reminiscence. There are too many great stories, quotes and observations ? you must read it for yourself. But I really appreciated this choice of words: ??one has to look to D. H. Lawrence?s travel writing, to Norman Douglas and Patrick Leigh Fermor, to find Durrell?s peers in ?foreign residence? writing.? I agree: _South Wind_ (a novel,) _A Time of Gifts_ (a travel book,) and Durrell?s foreign residence books are literary peers, related in many respects. But Durrell is not to be pigeonholed, and in particular I think Prospero?s Cell is a sport and hybrid, in a category all its own even among its siblings. That?s why Freya Stark?s ?gem-like miniature quality? blurb continues to resonate 70 years later.> > ?SWEET UNDISCOVERED ENDS?: A MEMOIR OF COLLECTING AND PUBLISHING LAWRENCE DURRELL by Peter Baldwin> > As previously noted on the listserv: ?Peter Baldwin just made me laugh out loud on page 26: "...with no sign of anything non-alcoholic for the children."? This is a charming and very funny reminiscence about Baldwin?s dealings with our hero. Please note that MacNiven quoted a similar story from Katie Wheelock that ?Larry was very nice with the children ? he soon got their three-year-old son tipsy on champagne.? Larry either didn?t have a taste for fruit juice around the house or just preferred the fermented variety!> > GHOSTS AND SHAPE-SHIFTING DOPPELGANGERS: EXPLORING THE UNCANNY IN LAWRENCE DURRELL?S AVIGNON QUINTET by Dianne Vipond> > I really wanted to like this article because I respect Dr. Vipond, but my main reservation is: I feel that many academics have a tough time associating Lawrence Durrell with science-fiction ( words he himself used in Balthazar) and fantasy writing ? so instead they resort to code words like ?post-modern.? Or ?the uncanny.? Listen ? when Durrell was talking about some of his characters coming from ?other time-fields and other contingent realities? in Quinx ? you can describe that as uncanny, but I think it would be fairer to call it SF.> > JUDITH: A NOVEL BY LAWRENCE DURRELL by Richard Pine> > This was fascinating. Hollywood demands multiple rewrites, and Durrell?s endlessly inventive brain could supply them! Some of the plot and character shifts in his drafts are seismic and disconcerting ? but always there is a kind of twisted companion story to the Quartet: Justine & Judith in Palestine.> > ?IT IS NOT MEANING THAT WE NEED BUT SIGHT?: LAWRENCE DURRELL?S RED LIMBO LINGO AS A POETIC QUEST FOR FREEDOM by Isabelle Privat-Keller> > Wow. This was very interesting. Unfortunately I haven?t read Red Limbo Lingo but I would like to now.> > A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES: LAWRENCE DURRELL, HASSAN FATHY, AND THE STORY OF GOURNA by David> Roessel and Gerald L. Vincent> Check out the pictures! A good one of Larry on Cyprus. This is also about Durrell?s friend Austen Harrison. Was Caradoc from the Revolt based on him? They were both architects. Yes, here it is on page 102: ?The more one looks, the more one sees links to Harrison in the creation of Caradoc.?> > CURATE?S EGG ON HIS FACE: BEING A REPLY TO MAHMOUD MANZALAOUI?S ?CURATE?S EGG: AN ALEXANDRIAN OPINION OF DURRELL?S QUARTET? by Michael Haag> > This was great ? a classic scholarly beat-down. Haag takes this poser out ? but what took you so long? Manzalaoui published this squalid and slanderous misreading of the AQ in ?62! Haag wrestles him to the ground point by point: it?s an entertaining and beautiful piece of argumentative rhetoric. It?s also pretty funny how many Durrell scholars Haag mentions who were taken in by MM?s egg. > > THE METAMORPHOSIS OF LONDON IN THE WRITING OF LAWRENCE DURRELL by Paul Lorenz> > Very interesting. Of course when you think about it, London was formative ?foreign residence? material for Durrell from the get-go: ages 11 to 23. Right ? welcome to ould blighty mate. Dr. Lorenz delivers a panoramic overview of the very different ways Larry treated the place over time in his poetry and prose. ??there are many Londons reflected in Durrell?s eyes.?> > ENDGAME: FROM THE CLOSURE OF TEXTS TO THE ENDING OF A LIFETIME?S OUEVRE by Corinne Alexandre-Garner> > How did all the books end, and what did he intend to convey in those endings? It?s a fascinating question, which leads to a discussion of his last book: Caesar?s Vast Ghost, ??the published copy of which Durrell received by mail the day before his death in November 1990.? That was a true valedictory ? though I?m sure he would have liked it more if it came with a check. > > #> > I?m recusing myself from reviewing the POETRY because I?m still sulking - but I thought was all very fine. > > Under Notes & Queries there is another essay, and it?s a corker:> > LAWRENCE DURRELL AND THE INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT IN CYPRUS by Jonathan Stubbs> > Anyone who likes BITTER LEMONS (and who doesn?t ? but dammit can?t you all see that Bitter Lemons is a foreign residence book, not a ?travel book??) - *ahem* sorry. You really need to read this essay! Fascinating recently-declassified materials from the official Pudding Island Archives about what Durrell was up to in 1954, running the Cyprus Broadcasting Service (CBS.) Gets down to the nitty-gritty level of imperialist propaganda to bring a colonial outpost back into line at a critical time. Maybe the highlight of the volume considering the factual documentation.> > #> > I would like to generally caution the editor of the REVIEWS section to more studiously avoid what I call ?log rolling.? Authors included in this very volume review or are reviewed in a somewhat incestuous muddle. That being said ? there are gems as usual. Michael Haag reviews Dr. Kaczvinsky?s Durrell and the City: Collected Essays on Place, which flowed from the enjoyable OMG I attended in New Orleans in 2010, and he is nonplussed by the negativity of Alan Friedman?s reappraisal of the AQ: 50 Years Later. This was in fact the keynote of the conference, and it was a blast of cold water in the face! Definitely woke me up at the time ? Dr. Friedman is a great speaker. You will find my own paper from the conference, ?The Characters in Durrell?s Avignon Quintet Real or imaginary - or both?? in A CAF? IN SPACE The Anais Nin Literary Journal Vol. 9 from 2012.> > The volume closes out with Grove Koger?s valuable DURRELL BIBLIOGRAPHY 1999 ? 2002. An excellent resource which is gradually being brought up to date. > > OK ? that?s it. The ILDS owes a huge debt of gratitude to Dr. Lillios for all her hard work in bringing out another key milestone in Durrell studies. As usual ? I am hungry for NS15!> > Best regards - Ken> > _______________________________________________> ILDS mailing list> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds------------------------------Message: 3Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2016 20:45:01 -0700From: James Gifford To: ilds at lists.uvic.caSubject: Re: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14Message-ID: <56EA283D.1020607 at gmail.com>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowedOn 2016-03-16 8:35 PM, PETER BALDWIN wrote:> pause to thank Paul Lorenz who had to stick extra> labels to the copies leaving the USAmen to Saint Paul!------------------------------Message: 4Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 12:53:02 +0000From: Anna Lillios To: "james.d.gifford at gmail.com" ,	"ilds at lists.uvic.ca" Subject: Re: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14Message-ID:	<2194B1722719C648BE6369F371F5DD1B997674AF at NET5013.net.ucf.edu>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"Paul not only had to stick extra labels on the issues (the easy part), but he had to fill out a custom form for each issue. Thanks, Paul! Attached is DL14's TOC, to whet your appetite for those of you in Europe. AnnaDr. Anna LilliosProfessor of EnglishUniversity of Central FloridaP.O. Box 161346Orlando, FL 32816-1346Phone: (407) 823-5596 (English Department)FAX: (407) 823-3300Email: Anna at ucf.eduEditor, Deus Loci: The Lawrence Durrell Journal________________________________________From: ILDS [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] on behalf of James Gifford [james.d.gifford at gmail.com]Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 11:45 PMTo: ilds at lists.uvic.caSubject: Re: [ilds] Enjoying DEUS LOCI NS14On 2016-03-16 8:35 PM, PETER BALDWIN wrote:> pause to thank Paul Lorenz who had to stick extra> labels to the copies leaving the USAmen to Saint Paul!_______________________________________________ILDS mailing listILDS at lists.uvic.cahttps://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds-------------- next part --------------A non-text attachment was scrubbed...Name: DL14--Table of Contents.docxType: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.documentSize: 101473 bytesDesc: DL14--Table of Contents.docxURL: ------------------------------Subject: Digest Footer_______________________________________________ILDS mailing listILDS at lists.uvic.cahttps://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds------------------------------End of ILDS Digest, Vol 107, Issue 5************************************
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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Fri Mar 18 08:46:07 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 08:46:07 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
In-Reply-To: <012e01d180a3$2f572580$8e057080$@comcast.net>
References: <9188D7EA-3ED2-49F4-AAF7-1DB34D831491@earthlink.net>
	<56EB12F1.1060200@gmail.com>
	<FFBD370B-47D8-4BC4-B48E-1CE50BF7D578@earthlink.net>
	<012e01d180a3$2f572580$8e057080$@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <F291781A-7851-4ACD-A9E5-618CFEAFFFCD@earthlink.net>

Merrianne, thanks.  The link below is a good description of Old and New Gourna.

Bruce



> On Mar 17, 2016, at 4:17 PM, Merrianne Timko <timlot at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> A quick aside. 
> I had the opportunity to have Hassan Fathy as a lecturer at the American University of Cairo in 1973. Sadly, even then, Gourna was already crumbling and unpopular with local residents. It was a utopian design with good intentions. 
> http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/newgournaupdate.htm <http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/newgournaupdate.htm>
> Merrianne
>  
> From: ILDS [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine
> Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 3:57 PM
> To: James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com>; Sumantra Nag <ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
> Cc: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
>  
> James,
>  
> The context of Roessel and Vincent?s remark is that Durrell?s does not acknowledge his indebtedness to his own work, i.e., an unfinished novel and later Revolt.  So they assert:
>  
>> Yet, in all the fulsome praise of Fathy?s model village and his book, Durrell gave no sign that in 1956 he was inspired by the story of Gourna to start a novel and that he returned to it various times between 1958 and 1964 before he transformed the work into the published Tunc and Nunquam.  Nor, in Durrell?s discussion of Fathy in ?With Durrell in Egypt? does he ever inform the reader of what Caradoc had declared in the typescript two decades earlier, that Gourna was the perfect village that ?no one ever lived in.?  (p. 94)
>  
> I think, unless I once again miss something, that Durrell?s riff on Egyptian ?mud bricks? is a classic Durrellian touch but not relevant to Roessel and Vincent?s criticism.
>  
>  
> Bruce
>  
>> On Mar 17, 2016, at 1:26 PM, James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com <mailto:james.d.gifford at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>  
>> Hi Bruce,
>> 
>> On 2016-03-17 1:10 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>> 
>>> 3.  The authors conclude by mildly criticizing Durrell for not
>>> mentioning that Hassan Fathy?s village and book inspired his future
>>> work... In 1978, Durrell publishes a travel piece
>>> on his return to Egypt /(NYT?s/ ?Egyptian Moments,? see Gifford?s
>>> /Elephant?s Back,/ pp. 359-78).  Roessel and Vincent believe that
>>> Durrell should have ?inform[ed]? his ?reader? of indebtedness to Fathy
>>> (p.94).  I agree.
>> 
>> I haven't received my copy of /DL/ yet, so this is hasty, but yes, Durrell does discuss Fathy and Gourna in his 1978 piece "With Durrell in Egypt" and mentions Fathy's 1973 /Architecture for the Poor/.
>> 
>> As you know, I find it hard not to see the mud brick from Gourna as a political gesture -- he's explicit in saying it is "something more."
>> 
>> All best,
>> James
>> 

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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Fri Mar 18 09:21:12 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 09:21:12 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
In-Reply-To: <W908632517680181458292108@atl4wm04pod3>
References: <W908632517680181458292108@atl4wm04pod3>
Message-ID: <0A44A3BB-52F2-45D5-BB91-B50F9CABEC90@earthlink.net>

1.  Homosexuality is a big topic in Durrell?s oeuvre, so I think it relevant that the authors chose to slip in a reference to Austen Harrison?s ?tendencies.?

2.  At the end of their essay, Roessel and Vincent refer to Durrell?s 1978 piece in the NYT, ?Egyptian Moments,? renamed ?With Durrell in Egypt? in Gifford?s edition of From the Elephant?s Back (2015).  They apparently thought it appropriate that Durrell give Hassan Fathy some credit for his contribution to what ultimately turned into Tunc and Nunquam.

3.  Durrell?s knowledge of Upper Egypt seems faulty or indifferent.  (Which is not surprising considering that he told Miller he ?loathed? Egypt.)  So he can get his geography wrong when he describes Darley spending two years as a school teacher somewhere beyond the Delta.

Bruce





> On Mar 18, 2016, at 2:08 AM, mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org wrote:
> 
> Someone on this list forwarded Bruce's questions and comments (below) since the  original (as so often with this list)  never reached me.
> Regarding Austen Harrison, LD did consult him about building matters: I have quoted the questions he posed to Harrison ("What is a theodolite? What does it do?"....) on p.315 of my "Mindscape" (2nd edn). The Durrell Libraryof Corfu has copies of LD's typed questions, with Harrison's handwritten replies.
> Regarding the origins of "Tunc/Nunquam" I have not yet seen the Roessel/Vincent article yet, altho I'm aware that they have been working on this subject for many years now. The fons et origo, as far as the architectural side of things go, was the story "Village of Turtle Doves", which morphed into the full-length (and unpublished) "The Placebo".
> Regarding the Caradoc/Harrison possible inspiration, why not? I was not aware that Harrison was homosexual, and maybe that is not what Roessel/Vincent have in mind. And so what? If (let's say) Harrison was the ONLY architect with whom LD was friendly, why should Caradoc not have some (repeat: SOME) of Harrison's characteristics? Is Caradoc homosexual? is, perhaps a more important question for critics than Harrison's sexual orientation, which may or may not be a matter for architectural historians, not literary critics. Perhaps the ferrets would like to concentrate on his first neme being taken from that of a woman novelist to whom he is said to have been related?
> As to whether or not LD knew of Gourna and whether or not, if he did, he should have acknowledged Fathy's work, I think it's likely that he did know of the plan to rebuild the old village, but why in a work of fiction should he be obliged to signpost a 'real' project or its architect? This is taking fiction too far. We might as well say that a novel in which the earth goes round the sun should acknowledge Galileo as a source. This is for people who cannot read books except to criticise them. 'Enjoy!' was NOT written above the door of the Academy, it seems.
> RP
> 
> David Roessel and Gerald L. Vincent?s ?A Tale of Two Villages:  Lawrence Durrell, Hassan Fathy, and the Story of Gourna,? Deus Loci, NS 14 (2014-2015):  85-103.
> 
> A couple of questions and a comment about this informative article.
> 
> 1.  As the authors indicate, the village of Gourna is in Upper Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor on the east bank.  I seriously doubt that Durrell was ever aware of the village during his stay in Egypt.  In fact, Durrell?s knowledge of Upper Egypt seems to have been very limited.  Chamberlin in his Chronology mentions Durrell undertaking a ?brief holiday? to Aswan in 1943.  I can find no other mention of travels up the Nile during LD?s first stay in Egypt.  Is this correct?
> 
> 2.  Austen Harrison was Durrell?s close friend, to whom he dedicated Bitter Lemons.  The authors indicate Harrison shared Scobie?s ?tendencies?:  ?Durrell surely knew that Harrison had them [?tendencies?].?  Have I missed something?  Harrison was a homosexual?
> 
> 3.  The authors conclude by mildly criticizing Durrell for not mentioning that Hassan Fathy?s village and book inspired his future work.  This is not plagiarism, as has been previously discussed, but it is typical of Durrell?s method?he frequently conceals his sources, either deliberately or not.   In 1978, Durrell publishes a travel piece on his return to Egypt (NYT?s ?Egyptian Moments,? see Gifford?s Elephant?s Back, pp. 359-78).  Roessel and Vincent believe that Durrell should have ?inform[ed]? his ?reader? of indebtedness to Fathy (p.94).  I agree.
> 

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From james.d.gifford at gmail.com  Fri Mar 18 11:05:21 2016
From: james.d.gifford at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 11:05:21 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
In-Reply-To: <0A44A3BB-52F2-45D5-BB91-B50F9CABEC90@earthlink.net>
References: <W908632517680181458292108@atl4wm04pod3>
	<0A44A3BB-52F2-45D5-BB91-B50F9CABEC90@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <56EC4361.5000809@gmail.com>

Hi Bruce,

On 2016-03-18 9:21 AM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
> 1.  Homosexuality is a big topic in Durrell?s oeuvre, so I think it
> relevant that the authors chose to slip in a reference to Austen
> Harrison?s ?tendencies.?

It is indeed in his books from 1935 onward.

> 2.  At the end of their essay, Roessel and Vincent refer to Durrell?s
> 1978 piece in the /NYT,/ ?Egyptian Moments,? renamed ?With Durrell in
> Egypt? in Gifford?s edition of /From the Elephant?s Back /(2015).

It appears variously as "Egyptian Moments, "With Durrell in Egypt," and 
as "Return to Egypt."  I don't have my files on this machine, so I can't 
actually check why...  There are two ts. states with minor variations at 
U Paris Ouest and U Victoria (those both use "Return to Egypt" if I 
remember correctly).

What is perhaps more interesting is that the piece, whichever title we 
use, gives prominence to Fathy's "little brick" while the companion 
piece "Alexandria Revisited" makes no such gesture only four months 
later.  I'd suggest Durrell has a very different set of allusive 
references to contemporary politics in the former and the latter, aimed 
as they are at American and British readerships, respectively.

I'd agree with you that the object is typical of Durrell (a fingerstall, 
dispossessed wedding rings, a Victorian penny, a green stone against the 
evil eye, and so forth).  However, why the humble mud brick and not 
something exotic for the American audience?  Why not something to set 
their romantic imaginations adrift?

Indeed, the dispossessed object is "a classic Durrellian touch," but 
it's also a loaded one and one about which he seemed to be very 
deliberate.  Superficially, it's an Egyptian alternative independent of 
the Soviet (infrastructure) and American (media) influences gestured to 
across the piece.  You know: precisely the kind of thing that could 
never be explicitly spoken of in this sort of travel piece.

> 3.  Durrell?s knowledge of Upper Egypt seems faulty or indifferent.
> (Which is not surprising considering that he told Miller he ?loathed?
> Egypt.)  So he can get his geography wrong when he describes Darley
> spending two years as a school teacher somewhere beyond the Delta.

I'd add that he also loathed England...  And Argentina, and the former 
Yugoslavia, and...  He seems to have found things to love in all of 
those as well -- the "Family Portrait" piece about Yugoslavia in 
/Elephant/ is a bit of a surprise in that respect, is it not?

All best,
James

From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Fri Mar 18 12:20:50 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 12:20:50 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Roessel and Vincent on Durrell and Gourna
In-Reply-To: <56EC4361.5000809@gmail.com>
References: <W908632517680181458292108@atl4wm04pod3>
	<0A44A3BB-52F2-45D5-BB91-B50F9CABEC90@earthlink.net>
	<56EC4361.5000809@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <9EDF54F0-CFE4-48AB-8CE3-59C363B07707@earthlink.net>

James,

We agree on all these points.  Well said.  Durrell?s brilliant choice of a ?little mud brick? deserves further comment.  You?ve previously mentioned Beatrice Skordili?s analysis of small items such as the ?green fingerstall? (her article, regrettably, I?ve not read and is hard to get).  Michael Haag has also commented on the ?green fingerstall? in previous exchanges on the ILDS listserv.  I?d call attention to the French expression nostalgie de la boue (?yearning for mud?; perhaps, ?attraction to the crude?).  Henry Miller certainly felt this throughout his work, and Durrell?s respect for him seems partly based on this ?yearning,? a Rabelaisian appreciation for dirt and all its connotations.  So I don?t find it surprising that Durrell would turn to a mud brick to round off his essay on a return to Egypt.  Mud is the primary building material for the people of ancient and modern Egypt.  Egyptian kings built their monuments in stone, but they lived in mud palaces (which is ignored and one of the many inaccuracies of Ridley Scott?s Exodus).  I keep on thinking of the mud of the Nile and Melissa, my favorite, who, at the beginning of Justine, ?lies buried deep as any mummy in the shallow tepid sand of the black estuary.?

Bruce





> On Mar 18, 2016, at 11:05 AM, James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Bruce,
> 
> On 2016-03-18 9:21 AM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>> 1.  Homosexuality is a big topic in Durrell?s oeuvre, so I think it
>> relevant that the authors chose to slip in a reference to Austen
>> Harrison?s ?tendencies.?
> 
> It is indeed in his books from 1935 onward.
> 
>> 2.  At the end of their essay, Roessel and Vincent refer to Durrell?s
>> 1978 piece in the /NYT,/ ?Egyptian Moments,? renamed ?With Durrell in
>> Egypt? in Gifford?s edition of /From the Elephant?s Back /(2015).
> 
> It appears variously as "Egyptian Moments, "With Durrell in Egypt," and as "Return to Egypt."  I don't have my files on this machine, so I can't actually check why...  There are two ts. states with minor variations at U Paris Ouest and U Victoria (those both use "Return to Egypt" if I remember correctly).
> 
> What is perhaps more interesting is that the piece, whichever title we use, gives prominence to Fathy's "little brick" while the companion piece "Alexandria Revisited" makes no such gesture only four months later.  I'd suggest Durrell has a very different set of allusive references to contemporary politics in the former and the latter, aimed as they are at American and British readerships, respectively.
> 
> I'd agree with you that the object is typical of Durrell (a fingerstall, dispossessed wedding rings, a Victorian penny, a green stone against the evil eye, and so forth).  However, why the humble mud brick and not something exotic for the American audience?  Why not something to set their romantic imaginations adrift?
> 
> Indeed, the dispossessed object is "a classic Durrellian touch," but it's also a loaded one and one about which he seemed to be very deliberate.  Superficially, it's an Egyptian alternative independent of the Soviet (infrastructure) and American (media) influences gestured to across the piece.  You know: precisely the kind of thing that could never be explicitly spoken of in this sort of travel piece.
> 
>> 3.  Durrell?s knowledge of Upper Egypt seems faulty or indifferent.
>> (Which is not surprising considering that he told Miller he ?loathed?
>> Egypt.)  So he can get his geography wrong when he describes Darley
>> spending two years as a school teacher somewhere beyond the Delta.
> 
> I'd add that he also loathed England...  And Argentina, and the former Yugoslavia, and...  He seems to have found things to love in all of those as well -- the "Family Portrait" piece about Yugoslavia in /Elephant/ is a bit of a surprise in that respect, is it not?
> 
> All best,
> James
> 

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From mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org  Sat Mar 19 05:35:02 2016
From: mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org (mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org)
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 12:35:02 +0000
Subject: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 107, Issue 6
Message-ID: <W904062965180081458390902@atl4wm04pod3>

All this talk of a green finger-stall prompts me to suggest that the green-ness of the thing may have originated in LD's sense of his Irishness. The green finger-stall, on an upraised finger, might suggest rectal penetration which would accord perfectly with the idea of his fascination with dirt/mud. An Irish suppository up the British arse, which he DID specifically refer to.
I'm only joking of course but jokes seem to be the only recourse in the face of such pointless waffle.
LD was a wordspinner. He wrote for money. So whatever words were to hand at the time had to do service. He was NOT trying to say anything profound about mud-bricks, just using what he had (or hadn't) seen, in an article for which he was going to be paid much-needed cash.
Admittedly he did espouse and entertain ideas (I've tried to show as much in my book) but these were kept for his 'serious' work and let's remember that at the outset he sharply distinguished between 'Durrell' and 'Norden' (from which Miller dissuaded him). Norden wrote for money, Durrell wrote as a quest. Let's not confuse the two.
RP


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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sat Mar 19 07:29:34 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 07:29:34 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Wordspinner
Message-ID: <7565A240-93E0-4003-9EBB-52FB1D858AE1@earthlink.net>

I guess you could also say the same about Shakespeare, who also wrote for money and got rich at it.  So I guess there's no need for any secondary material.  I don't think that Durrell divided his time between being an avaricious hack and a "serious" writer and that there's no connection between the two.

Bruce



Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 19, 2016, at 5:35 AM, mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org wrote:
> 
> All this talk of a green finger-stall prompts me to suggest that the green-ness of the thing may have originated in LD's sense of his Irishness. The green finger-stall, on an upraised finger, might suggest rectal penetration which would accord perfectly with the idea of his fascination with dirt/mud. An Irish suppository up the British arse, which he DID specifically refer to.
> I'm only joking of course but jokes seem to be the only recourse in the face of such pointless waffle.
> LD was a wordspinner. He wrote for money. So whatever words were to hand at the time had to do service. He was NOT trying to say anything profound about mud-bricks, just using what he had (or hadn't) seen, in an article for which he was going to be paid much-needed cash.
> Admittedly he did espouse and entertain ideas (I've tried to show as much in my book) but these were kept for his 'serious' work and let's remember that at the outset he sharply distinguished between 'Durrell' and 'Norden' (from which Miller dissuaded him). Norden wrote for money, Durrell wrote as a quest. Let's not confuse the two.
> RP
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
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From giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com  Sat Mar 19 10:45:23 2016
From: giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com (james Esposito)
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 19:45:23 +0200
Subject: [ilds] Wordspinner
In-Reply-To: <7565A240-93E0-4003-9EBB-52FB1D858AE1@earthlink.net>
References: <7565A240-93E0-4003-9EBB-52FB1D858AE1@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <CAFcAaFexZ+BEFVeftkkoJwB0P_SrCzoFi-SLTQV2Qp0YOHrnJQ@mail.gmail.com>

Forgive me as a newcomer, but surely Lawrence Durrell made it clear that he
saw his paid work as distinct from his serious novels,poetry et cetera? His
boast about the writing of the 'Antrobus' stories and the use to which he
put the money and the comparison with P G Wodehouse and Proust suggest that
he really did see himself as two types of writer. I'm not saying that these
two writers were entirely separable, but I think Durrell was conscious of a
difference in his approach to different tasks - the ephemeral newspaper and
magazine assignments and the major works. And perhaps "avaricious hack" is
not quite the way to describe him when he sat down to quickly write a
piece, maybe off the top of his head, which would earn him some necessary
money so that he could get back to spending quality time on his 'serious'
or 'real' (as he called it) work?
James Esposito

On Sat, Mar 19, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>
wrote:

> I guess you could also say the same about Shakespeare, who also wrote for
> money and got rich at it.  So I guess there's no need for any secondary
> material.  I don't think that Durrell divided his time between being an
> avaricious hack and a "serious" writer and that there's no connection
> between the two.
>
> Bruce
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 19, 2016, at 5:35 AM, mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org wrote:
>
> All this talk of a green finger-stall prompts me to suggest that the
> green-ness of the thing may have originated in LD's sense of his Irishness.
> The green finger-stall, on an upraised finger, might suggest rectal
> penetration which would accord perfectly with the idea of his fascination
> with dirt/mud. An Irish suppository up the British arse, which he DID
> specifically refer to.
> I'm only joking of course but jokes seem to be the only recourse in the
> face of such pointless waffle.
> LD was a wordspinner. He wrote for money. So whatever words were to hand
> at the time had to do service. He was NOT trying to say anything profound
> about mud-bricks, just using what he had (or hadn't) seen, in an article
> for which he was going to be paid much-needed cash.
> Admittedly he did espouse and entertain ideas (I've tried to show as much
> in my book) but these were kept for his 'serious' work and let's remember
> that at the outset he sharply distinguished between 'Durrell' and 'Norden'
> (from which Miller dissuaded him). Norden wrote for money, Durrell wrote as
> a quest. Let's not confuse the two.
> RP
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
>
>
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From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net  Sat Mar 19 12:05:56 2016
From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 12:05:56 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Wordspinners
In-Reply-To: <CAFcAaFexZ+BEFVeftkkoJwB0P_SrCzoFi-SLTQV2Qp0YOHrnJQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <7565A240-93E0-4003-9EBB-52FB1D858AE1@earthlink.net>
	<CAFcAaFexZ+BEFVeftkkoJwB0P_SrCzoFi-SLTQV2Qp0YOHrnJQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <B67BCD35-4719-453E-B16A-9587B4DCDB46@earthlink.net>

Excellent response.  This is the real issue--what's the relationship between Durrell as serious writer and Durrell as hack, greedy or not?  I see the two as directly related, with varying degrees of importance.  A good writer doesn't stop being a good writer simply because he or she writes to make money.  Durrell's Sicilian book and the one on the Greek islands were both written mainly to make money, and he even disparaged the former as something of a potboiler.  Both books, however, have many excellent sections and are relevant to his "serious" work and to the man himself.  I would add the Antrobus stories, along with the "ephemeral" pieces, to his body of work.

Also, Durrell's commentary on his own habits/objectives should be taken with heaps and heaps of salt.  D. H. Lawrence had it right, in my opinion, when he said, more than less, that readers should trust the book and not the author.

Bruce

R

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 19, 2016, at 10:45 AM, james Esposito <giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Forgive me as a newcomer, but surely Lawrence Durrell made it clear that he saw his paid work as distinct from his serious novels,poetry et cetera? His boast about the writing of the 'Antrobus' stories and the use to which he put the money and the comparison with P G Wodehouse and Proust suggest that he really did see himself as two types of writer. I'm not saying that these two writers were entirely separable, but I think Durrell was conscious of a difference in his approach to different tasks - the ephemeral newspaper and magazine assignments and the major works. And perhaps "avaricious hack" is not quite the way to describe him when he sat down to quickly write a piece, maybe off the top of his head, which would earn him some necessary money so that he could get back to spending quality time on his 'serious' or 'real' (as he called it) work?
> James Esposito
> 
>> On Sat, Mar 19, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> I guess you could also say the same about Shakespeare, who also wrote for money and got rich at it.  So I guess there's no need for any secondary material.  I don't think that Durrell divided his time between being an avaricious hack and a "serious" writer and that there's no connection between the two.
>> 
>> Bruce
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Mar 19, 2016, at 5:35 AM, mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org wrote:
>>> 
>>> All this talk of a green finger-stall prompts me to suggest that the green-ness of the thing may have originated in LD's sense of his Irishness. The green finger-stall, on an upraised finger, might suggest rectal penetration which would accord perfectly with the idea of his fascination with dirt/mud. An Irish suppository up the British arse, which he DID specifically refer to.
>>> I'm only joking of course but jokes seem to be the only recourse in the face of such pointless waffle.
>>> LD was a wordspinner. He wrote for money. So whatever words were to hand at the time had to do service. He was NOT trying to say anything profound about mud-bricks, just using what he had (or hadn't) seen, in an article for which he was going to be paid much-needed cash.
>>> Admittedly he did espouse and entertain ideas (I've tried to show as much in my book) but these were kept for his 'serious' work and let's remember that at the outset he sharply distinguished between 'Durrell' and 'Norden' (from which Miller dissuaded him). Norden wrote for money, Durrell wrote as a quest. Let's not confuse the two.
>>> RP
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
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From dtart at bigpond.net.au  Sat Mar 19 14:17:33 2016
From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green)
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2016 08:17:33 +1100
Subject: [ilds] Wordspinners
In-Reply-To: <B67BCD35-4719-453E-B16A-9587B4DCDB46@earthlink.net>
References: <7565A240-93E0-4003-9EBB-52FB1D858AE1@earthlink.net>
	<CAFcAaFexZ+BEFVeftkkoJwB0P_SrCzoFi-SLTQV2Qp0YOHrnJQ@mail.gmail.com>
	<B67BCD35-4719-453E-B16A-9587B4DCDB46@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <23D4F5E0-2BA0-47DB-BD8C-E0B55009EBAA@bigpond.net.au>

Having written commercially myself, I think it is easy, at least for me, to write with more than one head, so to speak. Writing for magazines and journals to a deadline for pay, sometimes good pay, requires a different mind cast to producing a a good poem; that comes from another place. As a writer Durrell was across multiple genres and wrote for diverse audiences but I agree with Bruce that whether dashing off a potboiler, a travel book or a great novel cycle, the strength and beauty of Durrell's poetry comes through them all, yes even Sicilian Carousel, an underrated book in my view. As an actor can play many parts, so can a writer but something of his essence flavours them all. 

David

Sent from my iPad

> On 20 Mar 2016, at 6:05 AM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> Excellent response.  This is the real issue--what's the relationship between Durrell as serious writer and Durrell as hack, greedy or not?  I see the two as directly related, with varying degrees of importance.  A good writer doesn't stop being a good writer simply because he or she writes to make money.  Durrell's Sicilian book and the one on the Greek islands were both written mainly to make money, and he even disparaged the former as something of a potboiler.  Both books, however, have many excellent sections and are relevant to his "serious" work and to the man himself.  I would add the Antrobus stories, along with the "ephemeral" pieces, to his body of work.
> 
> Also, Durrell's commentary on his own habits/objectives should be taken with heaps and heaps of salt.  D. H. Lawrence had it right, in my opinion, when he said, more than less, that readers should trust the book and not the author.
> 
> Bruce
> 
> R
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Mar 19, 2016, at 10:45 AM, james Esposito <giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Forgive me as a newcomer, but surely Lawrence Durrell made it clear that he saw his paid work as distinct from his serious novels,poetry et cetera? His boast about the writing of the 'Antrobus' stories and the use to which he put the money and the comparison with P G Wodehouse and Proust suggest that he really did see himself as two types of writer. I'm not saying that these two writers were entirely separable, but I think Durrell was conscious of a difference in his approach to different tasks - the ephemeral newspaper and magazine assignments and the major works. And perhaps "avaricious hack" is not quite the way to describe him when he sat down to quickly write a piece, maybe off the top of his head, which would earn him some necessary money so that he could get back to spending quality time on his 'serious' or 'real' (as he called it) work?
>> James Esposito
>> 
>>> On Sat, Mar 19, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>> I guess you could also say the same about Shakespeare, who also wrote for money and got rich at it.  So I guess there's no need for any secondary material.  I don't think that Durrell divided his time between being an avaricious hack and a "serious" writer and that there's no connection between the two.
>>> 
>>> Bruce
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Mar 19, 2016, at 5:35 AM, mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> All this talk of a green finger-stall prompts me to suggest that the green-ness of the thing may have originated in LD's sense of his Irishness. The green finger-stall, on an upraised finger, might suggest rectal penetration which would accord perfectly with the idea of his fascination with dirt/mud. An Irish suppository up the British arse, which he DID specifically refer to.
>>>> I'm only joking of course but jokes seem to be the only recourse in the face of such pointless waffle.
>>>> LD was a wordspinner. He wrote for money. So whatever words were to hand at the time had to do service. He was NOT trying to say anything profound about mud-bricks, just using what he had (or hadn't) seen, in an article for which he was going to be paid much-needed cash.
>>>> Admittedly he did espouse and entertain ideas (I've tried to show as much in my book) but these were kept for his 'serious' work and let's remember that at the outset he sharply distinguished between 'Durrell' and 'Norden' (from which Miller dissuaded him). Norden wrote for money, Durrell wrote as a quest. Let's not confuse the two.
>>>> RP
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> 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
> _______________________________________________
> ILDS mailing list
> ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
> https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds
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From bredwine1968 at gmail.com  Sat Mar 19 21:53:06 2016
From: bredwine1968 at gmail.com (Bruce Redwine)
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 21:53:06 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Wordspinners
In-Reply-To: <23D4F5E0-2BA0-47DB-BD8C-E0B55009EBAA@bigpond.net.au>
References: <7565A240-93E0-4003-9EBB-52FB1D858AE1@earthlink.net>
	<CAFcAaFexZ+BEFVeftkkoJwB0P_SrCzoFi-SLTQV2Qp0YOHrnJQ@mail.gmail.com>
	<B67BCD35-4719-453E-B16A-9587B4DCDB46@earthlink.net>
	<23D4F5E0-2BA0-47DB-BD8C-E0B55009EBAA@bigpond.net.au>
Message-ID: <542AFF54-B8F7-4297-AB27-CE3AC47BFBE4@gmail.com>

Yes.

Bruce



> On Mar 19, 2016, at 2:17 PM, Denise Tart & David Green <dtart at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> 
> Having written commercially myself, I think it is easy, at least for me, to write with more than one head, so to speak. Writing for magazines and journals to a deadline for pay, sometimes good pay, requires a different mind cast to producing a a good poem; that comes from another place. As a writer Durrell was across multiple genres and wrote for diverse audiences but I agree with Bruce that whether dashing off a potboiler, a travel book or a great novel cycle, the strength and beauty of Durrell's poetry comes through them all, yes even Sicilian Carousel, an underrated book in my view. As an actor can play many parts, so can a writer but something of his essence flavours them all. 
> 
> David
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On 20 Mar 2016, at 6:05 AM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net <mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>> wrote:
> 
>> Excellent response.  This is the real issue--what's the relationship between Durrell as serious writer and Durrell as hack, greedy or not?  I see the two as directly related, with varying degrees of importance.  A good writer doesn't stop being a good writer simply because he or she writes to make money.  Durrell's Sicilian book and the one on the Greek islands were both written mainly to make money, and he even disparaged the former as something of a potboiler.  Both books, however, have many excellent sections and are relevant to his "serious" work and to the man himself.  I would add the Antrobus stories, along with the "ephemeral" pieces, to his body of work.
>> 
>> Also, Durrell's commentary on his own habits/objectives should be taken with heaps and heaps of salt.  D. H. Lawrence had it right, in my opinion, when he said, more than less, that readers should trust the book and not the author.
>> 
>> Bruce
>> 
>> R
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Mar 19, 2016, at 10:45 AM, james Esposito <giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com <mailto:giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Forgive me as a newcomer, but surely Lawrence Durrell made it clear that he saw his paid work as distinct from his serious novels,poetry et cetera? His boast about the writing of the 'Antrobus' stories and the use to which he put the money and the comparison with P G Wodehouse and Proust suggest that he really did see himself as two types of writer. I'm not saying that these two writers were entirely separable, but I think Durrell was conscious of a difference in his approach to different tasks - the ephemeral newspaper and magazine assignments and the major works. And perhaps "avaricious hack" is not quite the way to describe him when he sat down to quickly write a piece, maybe off the top of his head, which would earn him some necessary money so that he could get back to spending quality time on his 'serious' or 'real' (as he called it) work?
>>> James Esposito
>>> 
>>> On Sat, Mar 19, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net <mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>> wrote:
>>> I guess you could also say the same about Shakespeare, who also wrote for money and got rich at it.  So I guess there's no need for any secondary material.  I don't think that Durrell divided his time between being an avaricious hack and a "serious" writer and that there's no connection between the two.
>>> 
>>> Bruce
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> On Mar 19, 2016, at 5:35 AM, mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org <mailto:mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> All this talk of a green finger-stall prompts me to suggest that the green-ness of the thing may have originated in LD's sense of his Irishness. The green finger-stall, on an upraised finger, might suggest rectal penetration which would accord perfectly with the idea of his fascination with dirt/mud. An Irish suppository up the British arse, which he DID specifically refer to.
>>>> I'm only joking of course but jokes seem to be the only recourse in the face of such pointless waffle.
>>>> LD was a wordspinner. He wrote for money. So whatever words were to hand at the time had to do service. He was NOT trying to say anything profound about mud-bricks, just using what he had (or hadn't) seen, in an article for which he was going to be paid much-needed cash.
>>>> Admittedly he did espouse and entertain ideas (I've tried to show as much in my book) but these were kept for his 'serious' work and let's remember that at the outset he sharply distinguished between 'Durrell' and 'Norden' (from which Miller dissuaded him). Norden wrote for money, Durrell wrote as a quest. Let's not confuse the two.
>>>> RP

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From james.d.gifford at gmail.com  Sat Mar 19 23:03:42 2016
From: james.d.gifford at gmail.com (James Gifford)
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 23:03:42 -0700
Subject: [ilds] Wordspinners
In-Reply-To: <23D4F5E0-2BA0-47DB-BD8C-E0B55009EBAA@bigpond.net.au>
References: <7565A240-93E0-4003-9EBB-52FB1D858AE1@earthlink.net>
	<CAFcAaFexZ+BEFVeftkkoJwB0P_SrCzoFi-SLTQV2Qp0YOHrnJQ@mail.gmail.com>
	<B67BCD35-4719-453E-B16A-9587B4DCDB46@earthlink.net>
	<23D4F5E0-2BA0-47DB-BD8C-E0B55009EBAA@bigpond.net.au>
Message-ID: <7856CA2C-E3E0-4970-AB51-374D0BBBC99E@gmail.com>

Hello all,

It's worth noting that thanks to Charles Sligh's excellent editorial work, we have Durrell's thoughts on the matter in "The Minor Mythologies" (Deus Loci NS 7 1999-2000). He's certainly not dismissive of "lowbrow" entertainments. Sligh notes it as a "multiform, anti-departmental approach to literary production," and I think I'd go along a long way with that. And after all, Old D wrote the last 3 volumes of The Quartet at top speed. And for money too... Even early on he wrote to emulate the formal effects of the high modernists in Panic Spring, and under a pseudonym, which certainly wasn't a good plan to make easy money fast.

I'd note that the same Hope Mirrlees who gave the world the remarkable and experimental "Paris: A Poem" also wrote the fantasy novel Lud-In-The-Mist. I think we'd be foolish not to see a careful mind at work in both texts just as we'd be foolish to exclude the material exigencies of their production. Then again, I've written critical work on comic books...

I'll stand by the mud brick in this case, even if I don't roll in the muck.

All best,
James

Ps: great to have your contribution James (Esposito)!

Sent from my iPad

> On Mar 19, 2016, at 2:17 PM, Denise Tart & David Green <dtart at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> 
> Having written commercially myself, I think it is easy, at least for me, to write with more than one head, so to speak. Writing for magazines and journals to a deadline for pay, sometimes good pay, requires a different mind cast to producing a a good poem; that comes from another place. As a writer Durrell was across multiple genres and wrote for diverse audiences but I agree with Bruce that whether dashing off a potboiler, a travel book or a great novel cycle, the strength and beauty of Durrell's poetry comes through them all, yes even Sicilian Carousel, an underrated book in my view. As an actor can play many parts, so can a writer but something of his essence flavours them all. 
> 
> David
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On 20 Mar 2016, at 6:05 AM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Excellent response.  This is the real issue--what's the relationship between Durrell as serious writer and Durrell as hack, greedy or not?  I see the two as directly related, with varying degrees of importance.  A good writer doesn't stop being a good writer simply because he or she writes to make money.  Durrell's Sicilian book and the one on the Greek islands were both written mainly to make money, and he even disparaged the former as something of a potboiler.  Both books, however, have many excellent sections and are relevant to his "serious" work and to the man himself.  I would add the Antrobus stories, along with the "ephemeral" pieces, to his body of work.
>> 
>> Also, Durrell's commentary on his own habits/objectives should be taken with heaps and heaps of salt.  D. H. Lawrence had it right, in my opinion, when he said, more than less, that readers should trust the book and not the author.
>> 
>> Bruce
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Mar 19, 2016, at 10:45 AM, james Esposito <giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Forgive me as a newcomer, but surely Lawrence Durrell made it clear that he saw his paid work as distinct from his serious novels,poetry et cetera? His boast about the writing of the 'Antrobus' stories and the use to which he put the money and the comparison with P G Wodehouse and Proust suggest that he really did see himself as two types of writer. I'm not saying that these two writers were entirely separable, but I think Durrell was conscious of a difference in his approach to different tasks - the ephemeral newspaper and magazine assignments and the major works. And perhaps "avaricious hack" is not quite the way to describe him when he sat down to quickly write a piece, maybe off the top of his head, which would earn him some necessary money so that he could get back to spending quality time on his 'serious' or 'real' (as he called it) work?
>>> James Esposito
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