Books
by Lawrence Durrell
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Bitter Lemons |
With his characteristic verbal fireworks this poet/author conjures up a picture of 1950s Cyprus as a paradise. He settled down in a small village, renovated an old house and, with his fluent Greek, quickly made friends amongst the locals. Sadly the latent Greek/Turkish conflict exploded into violence and the colonial government for which Durrell worked as information officer was succeeded by direct military rule. He decided it was time for him to leave.
(Jeremy Swann - bwl 44 February 2008) |
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Esprit de Corps: Sketches from Diplomatic Life |
Durrell’s fictional sketches on the mayhem and oddities of diplomatic life were first published in 1957. Reading them again today, they lose none of their charm and wit. Who can forget the hilarious account of a diplomatic party on a raft on the Sava headed for disaster at the confluence with the Danube? Oh for the days when the worst contretemps between countries were merely caused by gaffes and mishaps at diplomatic gatherings.
(Jeremy Miller - bwl 118 Autumn 2025) |
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Mountolive |
This, the third part of the Alexandria Quartet, is a straightforward narrative in which Mountolive, British ambassador in Cairo, is torn between his duty and his affection for a rich Coptic family discovered to be leading a conspiracy against British power in Palestine. Re-reading it after many years I found it even more entertaining than I remembered.
(Jeremy Swann - bwl 4 July 2000) |
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