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Lawrence Durrell: A Biography
Born in India in 1912, the son of an engineer, sent 'home' to school in England (which he christened "Pudding Island"), Lawrence Durell left for Corfu with his first wife and his incorrigible family in 1935, from where he was driven to Egypt by the German invasion of Greece in 1941, and in time to Rhodes, Argentina, Yugoslavia and Cyprus. Eventually, with his third wife, he moved to southern France, where he lived for over thirty years.
His poetry, his island books and his novels reflect his passion for congenial places and people, preferably around the shores of the Mediterranean. As Ian MacNiven shows in this major biography, Durrell's private world was assimilated into his writing from the very beginning, and it has taken years of patient research to piece together the true narrative of his literary background and influences.
The book was undertaken at Durrell's invitation, with access to his personal papers and notebooks and letters. It draws heavily on the memories of innumerable friends and contemporaries, as well as his own family and the many women in his life, including his wives. It will engross all admirers of this mercurial and richly gifted writer whose 'investigation of modern love' in The Alexandria Quartet produced one of the masterpieces of post-war fiction.
His poetry, his island books and his novels reflect his passion for congenial places and people, preferably around the shores of the Mediterranean. As Ian MacNiven shows in this major biography, Durrell's private world was assimilated into his writing from the very beginning, and it has taken years of patient research to piece together the true narrative of his literary background and influences.
The book was undertaken at Durrell's invitation, with access to his personal papers and notebooks and letters. It draws heavily on the memories of innumerable friends and contemporaries, as well as his own family and the many women in his life, including his wives. It will engross all admirers of this mercurial and richly gifted writer whose 'investigation of modern love' in The Alexandria Quartet produced one of the masterpieces of post-war fiction.
- GenresBiography
801 pages, Hardcover
First published August 13, 1957
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 3, 2016
I got hold of this book as an unrenewable library book, and thus was able to get through only a little of it, in view of its size.
If the book has a fault, it is its excessive detail and prodigious size. It begins by elucidating Durrell´s ancestry on both sides of the family and telling us of his upbringing in India.
We learn about the whole family, which we also know from little brother Gerry´s entertaining books about their life on Corfu. The most interesting parts of the present book were, perhaps obviously, about Larry´s many relationships, including with the famous Henry Miller.
Though I admit I haven´t read the whole book, I have looked through it; I didn´t find much, if anything, about Larry´s daughter Sappho´s claims of having an incestuous relationship with her father: I had read elsewhere that Larry was obsessed with incest, and such a relationship would certainly have explained Sappho´s mental/emotional problems and her eventual suicide.
Perhaps it was a drawback that the author was a personal friend of Durrell´s, since then it might have been difficult for him to go into the negative aspects of his character and behaviour, including his drunkenness and violence when drunk.
I would quite have liked to have read this well-written book in its entirety, but decided that despite its qualities life was too short to spend reading it.
If the book has a fault, it is its excessive detail and prodigious size. It begins by elucidating Durrell´s ancestry on both sides of the family and telling us of his upbringing in India.
We learn about the whole family, which we also know from little brother Gerry´s entertaining books about their life on Corfu. The most interesting parts of the present book were, perhaps obviously, about Larry´s many relationships, including with the famous Henry Miller.
Though I admit I haven´t read the whole book, I have looked through it; I didn´t find much, if anything, about Larry´s daughter Sappho´s claims of having an incestuous relationship with her father: I had read elsewhere that Larry was obsessed with incest, and such a relationship would certainly have explained Sappho´s mental/emotional problems and her eventual suicide.
Perhaps it was a drawback that the author was a personal friend of Durrell´s, since then it might have been difficult for him to go into the negative aspects of his character and behaviour, including his drunkenness and violence when drunk.
I would quite have liked to have read this well-written book in its entirety, but decided that despite its qualities life was too short to spend reading it.
February 18, 2023
Durrell poses a challenge. Not a great writer. I did like Alex. Q. when I read it in the 1980s but have never felt inclined to re-read it, unlike Bitter Lemons which I've read three or four times. Only got two or three books into the Avig. Quin. before it bored me.
His life as a writer, civil servant, wife-beater, alcoholic, poet, poor father, traveller, booster of many fellow writers, contains much that's humourous, brutal, misogynistic, reckless, self-centred, successful, bitter -- and MacNiven captures it without much special pleading. When one says "warts and all" what does one mean by "and all"? Does it mean something better or worse than warts? Readers of this biography will decide for themselves as MacNiven gives evidence that could make different cases.
His life as a writer, civil servant, wife-beater, alcoholic, poet, poor father, traveller, booster of many fellow writers, contains much that's humourous, brutal, misogynistic, reckless, self-centred, successful, bitter -- and MacNiven captures it without much special pleading. When one says "warts and all" what does one mean by "and all"? Does it mean something better or worse than warts? Readers of this biography will decide for themselves as MacNiven gives evidence that could make different cases.
June 4, 2013
It is clear that McNiven has put a tremendous amount of work into this biography. Years and years of interviews and research to try to wrap his mind around the story of an author who keeps changing the answers every time he asks, and who's answers contradict his friends and family's. What brings the rating down for me is the sheer massiveness and almost lexicon quality of this book (it's huge! and so full of details it's sometimes a slog). I also personally missed more of a connection between the man and his story and the symbols and themes in his work.
It's as complete a description of his life as is likely possible (from his perspective. Others come through more clearly in Through the dark labyrinth). Something that adds to the enjoyment of reading the book is that McNiven, in contextualizing "Larry's" life gives an interesting account of Egypt during the second world war, Cyprus and the fight for enosis and India during colonial times.
It's as complete a description of his life as is likely possible (from his perspective. Others come through more clearly in Through the dark labyrinth). Something that adds to the enjoyment of reading the book is that McNiven, in contextualizing "Larry's" life gives an interesting account of Egypt during the second world war, Cyprus and the fight for enosis and India during colonial times.
April 17, 2025
Took me hours and hours to read but I couldn’t stop, despite the tedium of many, many names of Durrell’s friends, acquaintances, collaborators, frenemies, lovers, etc. Clearly a complicated, intelligent and brutish man at times, can’t quite imagine the attraction of so many amazing women along the way - ha - I suppose his intellect and wit went a long way. I must admit, I was finally relieved when he died at the end. PS I was not inspired to reading any of Durrell’s work as a result of this biography. Maybe other readers have been affected in the opposite way …
June 28, 2022
Fascinating to get the details of Durrell's personal life alongside the history of his writing. MacNiven brings a scholars depth and a fan's eye to the task, without sparing Durrell from scrutiny over his less appealing characteristics. I'm now motivated to read the Avignon Quintet (and even considering re-reading the Alexandria Quartet for the third time).
March 22, 2022
UPDATE: Here's a link to my essay on The Alexandria Quartet:
http://www.edrants.com/the-alexandria...
Well, now I know why this biography has gone swiftly out of print. This is a remarkably tedious and rambling hagiography that does a poor job of capturing a major writer's life. Yes, MacNiven had access to tons of source material. And that's really the only reason to read this tremendously overlong book. But he skims over his father's death, countless divorces, and even Sappho's death like a man completely incapable of telling a story. Since this is the "official biography" and since MacNiven was a friend to Durrell, this is a kid gloves approach to compiling a literary life. MacNiven seems to be more galvanized by Henry Miller (or even Richard Aldington) than Durrell, whose fierce personality seems curiously lifeless here. For Durrell die-hards only. Certainly not worth the $45-50 that you now have to pay for a used copy of this.
http://www.edrants.com/the-alexandria...
Well, now I know why this biography has gone swiftly out of print. This is a remarkably tedious and rambling hagiography that does a poor job of capturing a major writer's life. Yes, MacNiven had access to tons of source material. And that's really the only reason to read this tremendously overlong book. But he skims over his father's death, countless divorces, and even Sappho's death like a man completely incapable of telling a story. Since this is the "official biography" and since MacNiven was a friend to Durrell, this is a kid gloves approach to compiling a literary life. MacNiven seems to be more galvanized by Henry Miller (or even Richard Aldington) than Durrell, whose fierce personality seems curiously lifeless here. For Durrell die-hards only. Certainly not worth the $45-50 that you now have to pay for a used copy of this.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews