[ilds] Jolan Chang

[Bruce Redwine]

Ken,

Interesting idea, Jolan Chang as “inspiration” for Affad in Sebastian.  Chang appears at beginning of A Smile in the Mind’s Eye (1980).  Sebastian or Ruling Passions appears in 1983.  I first thought Chang was another of Durrell’s inventions—he seemed too improbable.  He was, however, a real person who wrote The Tao of Love and Sex:  The Ancient Chinese Way to Ecstasy (1977).  They actually met, as MacNiven verifies.  The times are also right, so maybe there is a connection.  I agree—Durrell gets too explicit with Constance and sex.  I’d call his treatment highbrow pornography.

Bruce




.
> On Oct 3, 2016, at 11:44 AM, Kennedy Gammage <gammage.kennedy at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Putting this supposition out there for discussion: that Jolan Chang was the inspiration for Sebastian / Affad in the Quintet – infamously for all the annoying tantric sex with-and-in Constance, which I consider somewhat of a drawback for the central book in the Quintet and a Booker Prize shortlist.
> 
> Please feel free to disagree - Ken
> 

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