But keep up with it one should do, as the potential rewards can be many fold. It’s all very beautiful writing, though there is the danger that at times it can get eternally frustrating to keep up with it. And Durrell plays with his prose as only a master who knows he has the power of language dripping from his fingers can – almost mocking the reader with his descriptive and metaphorical diarrhea at various points in the book. Sure, love (and lust), in its various forms runs its mysterious course through most of the numerous strands of this book, but it also encapsulates intrigue, politics, betrayal, sadness, family and most importantly, perspective via the unreliable narrator/s. Though now mostly considered as one great work, it was originally published as four separate volumes detailing life in wartime Alexandria.Īn exploration it surely is – but definitely not just of love and relationships. ‘An exploration of modern love’, the endorsement on the cover jacket tries to further entice the foolhardy reader who has decided to take on this mammoth work. Being a place I had visited (in the distant past), Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet held beguiling (though intimidating considering its size) appeal for me. It’s time for the classics again, this time one which is heralded as one of the greatest works of English prose in the last century.
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