[ilds] The Alexander Quartet and Proust's In Search of Lost Time (entitled Remembrance of Things Past, in its earlier English translations)

[sharbani banerjee(mukherjee)]

This is an interesting discussion as Durrell's Quartet was indeed compared
to Proust. I just wanted to point out that homosexuality has also been
grazed through...in the characters of Balthazar and especially Scobie who
died for cross-dressing but was later deified as El Scob. This deification
is , to my mind, very symbolic!

On 23-Feb-2017 7:40 pm, "Sumantra Nag" <sumantranag at gmail.com> wrote:

> Having resumed my reading of Proust   after a lapse of many years, I
> devoted the last few months to reading the last four volumes (Cities of the
> Plain, The Captive, The Fugitive and Time Regained) of Proust's In Search
> of Lost Time (Remembrance of Things Past) in the English translation by
> Terence Kilmartin (Penguin 1983).
>
> This translation, evidently includes some reworking of Scott Moncrieff's
> original translation but was described as a very faithful translation of
> Proust's work. I gather that later translations were done by different
> translators around 2010 but I haven't accessed them yet.
>
> Having read these last four volumes I returned to the earlier volumes to
> refurbish my memory of them, since I had read them many years ago.
>
> My recent reading of Proust's monumental work led me to perceive that many
> of the qualities marking The Alexandria Quartet are present in the novels
> of In Search of Lost Time (to use the original title) where these qualities
> prevail in much greater depth, range and variety.
>
> To begin with, if Durrell's original description of his novels (the AQ)
> was "an investigation of bisexual love" -
> subsequently edited by the publishers to read as "an investigation of
> modern love" - Proust's work deals with homosexuality, lesbianism and
> bisexual love through an extensive range of characters and situations which
> are explored at length.
>
> In Proust's work the narrator's extended relationship with Albertine and
> his sense of loss following her death are expressed in great detail with a
> stirring poignancy. Larry's feelings for the impoverished Melissa in the AQ
> has a similar quality.
>
> Proust records obsessive love and jealousy with great intensity. In the AQ
> Justine and her relationships with both Larry and her husband Nessim
> reflect a similar concentration of feeling.
>
> Proust describes landscape and the effect of light with the vividness of a
> painter and deals with moods associated with landscape. Durrell displays a
> similar preoccupation with the colours and effects of landscape.
>
> One could go on . . . Psychological analysis and rhetorical observations
> abound in Proust and Durrell's rich prose includes a similar content.
>
> I presume I am scratching the surface of a literary comparison which has
> received scholarly treatment about which I am eager to learn.
>
> An early review of the AQ novels spoke of a "Proustian ferocity" with
> which Durrell deals with his material. While on this point, it might be
> interesting to read all the reviews of the novels from The Alexandria
> Quartet if they are available in a collected format.
>
> Regards
>
> Sumantra
>
> Sent from my Moto G4 Plus
>
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