Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader

By Lawrence Durrell

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786713704
• ISBN13: 9780786713707
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
• Length: 405 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Compared to most travel writing, should be 6 stars

The Lawrence Durrell Reader is a compendium of his best travel writing. All the entries concern the Mediterranean World and particularly its islands--Corfu, Rhodes, Cyprus and Sicily, with Provence and Delphi thrown in for continental balance. The collection celebrates what Durrell liked to call "Spirit of Place." It may seem occasionally dated as we move into the final decadance of condominium development. It may seem nostalgic in an age where beachfront hotels supply "animation" for its patrons. But from the exuberance of Prospero's Cell to the sadness of Bitter Lemons, Durrell will tell you everything you need to know about the places he looked for in himself. Less Than a Shadow