[ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 107, Issue 5

[mail at durrelllibrarycorfu.org]

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the architectural side of things go, was the story "Village of Turtle Doves", which morphed into the full-length (and unpublished) "The Placebo".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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