Synopses & Reviews
Many readers know Lawrence Durrell as the famed author of the lush and sensuous Alexandria Quartet. However, this wonderful book contains the best of Durrell's incomparable travel writing. It is collected here for the first time in a single volume and offers a chance to rediscover the author as one of the great travel writers of the twentieth century.
Durrell's passionate, evocative writing about his travels in particular the Greek islands is a timeless exploration of how landscapes shape our experience. This collection also re-creates a world where a struggling author or artist could buy a cliff-side house on Corfu for a pittance and begin to invent himself as a man of letters while falling in love with an alien but endlessly entertaining culture. The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader combines the merits of great escape reading and serious literature and will interest fans of Durrell, fans of Greek islands, and lovers of travel writing.
Review
"Although much has changed since his visits, Durrell's vibrant and sensuous prose recalls the immutable essence of the thalassic isles....Recommended." Library Journal
Synopsis
The best of Durrell's incomparable travel writing is collected here for the first time in a single volume. This book is released in conjunction with the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece.
Table of Contents
Editor's Note vii
Spirit of Place
Landscape and Character 3
Corfu
Divisions upon Greek Ground 15
Ionian Profiles 34
Landscape with Olive Trees 44
A Landmark Gone 69
Oil for the Saint; Return to Corfu 73
Rhodes
Of Paradise Terrestre 99
The Little Summer of Saint Demetrius 128
The Three Lost Cities 150
Cyprus
How to Buy a House 185
The Tree of Idleness 217
The Vanishing Landmarks 228
Troubadour 244
Sicily
Arrival 251
Agrigento 257
Erice 305
Taormina 319
Provence
In Praise of Fanatics 335
Laura, A Portrait of Avignon 355
Across Secret Provence 373
Old Mathieu 392
Delphi
Delphi 399