Product Description
In 1935, Lawrence Durrell, a young Englishman living on Corfu, wrote enthusiastically to a middle-aged Brooklynite - Henry Miller - of his just published novel "Tropic of Cancer". Miller felt that he had found his ideal reader and responded, thus beginning a correspondence that lasted 45 years. ... Read more

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Two great writers in a lifelong epistolary friendship...
It is well-known that Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller became friends after Durrell wrote a letter to Miller in Paris, praising the latter's 'Tropic of Cancer' when it was still banned both in Britain and the UnitedStates.What devolved from this sincere letter of praise is shown in thisvolume, a successor to the 'Durrell-Miller Letters' of thirty years ago. Of necessity more complete than its predecessor, the 'Durrell-MillerLetters: 1935-80' tells a story in its own right of the lives of two greatfriends, who met over a book and stayed the course for the next forty-fiveyears.

In these pages we find Durrell, always in exile no matter where hehas chosen to settle, be it England, Corfu, Cyprus, Argentinia, Yugoslavia,Egypt or France, writing to Miller, an American first abroad in Paris thenreturned to the United States, to New York and eventually to Big Sur, wherehe was to live for most of the rest of his life. Over the course of theletters a remarkable friendship blossomed, one which withstood the tests ofdistance and age with remarkable fortitude, and which only death eventuallyended.The letters are often exuberant, coarse, and amusing; theychronicle the developing literary and personal fortunes of two remarkablemen: one the author of some of the most controversial books of thetwentieth century, the other author of the much-praised Alexandria Quartet,as well as countless volumes of poetry, drama, and travelwriting.

Introduced and annotated by Ian MacNiven, Durrell's officialbiographer, and completed two years before Durrell's death in 1990, thisvolume is a marvellous addition to the library of any reader of eitherDurrell or Miller, or anyone who appreciates seeing at first hand the innerworkings of rare and unique minds. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in the 1950s, this modern masterpiece is Lawrence Durrell's translation and adaptation of Emmanuel Royidis's classic Papissa Joanna--the story of history's only female pope. The story's source is a ninth-century legend: a girl disguised as a monk makes her way from Greece to Rome, is elevated to the throne of St. Peter, and rules over Christendom for a time as Pope John VIII. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

The satirical legend of a female pope
I probably first heard of the legend of the female pope while attending my Catholic high school, it being the kind of quasi-scandalous story that Catholic school students love to irritate their teachers with.I'm generally disinclined to believe the legend however, since there hardly seems to be any historical evidence to support it.That said, the legend, as set forth in this book, is a marvelous satire of the Church and its practices during that dark period following the fall of the Roman Empire.The rampant corruption of the clergy and the obsession of the church leadership with secular power and privilege provides ample fodder for this story, which merely extrapolates these weaknesses to one extreme.The historical failings of the Church and its leadership should serve as a cautionary lesson to those modern leaders of the Church who seem to have forgotten that they are also subject to human fallibility, and that humility should be the defining characteristic of their leadership.

While the satirical content of this book is entertaining and enlightening, I found the prose to be far to embellished for my taste.The frequent asides and tangential diversions from the core story were distracting.I often found my attention wandering and sometimes I found it easier to just skip ahead to where the author returned to the main story line.Much of this extraneous material felt like padding, even in this rather slim (150 pages) volume.

A tale of two Pope Joans
A while back I acquired copies of two books entitled Pope Joan, one translated from the Greek by Lawrence Durrell and one written by Donna Woolfolk Cross.Somehow they have languished for two years on my bookshelf (which ironically is the length of time the good lady was said to have occupied the Papal throne), but I have just finished reading them, not back to back but actually alternating the two so that I started and finished them both within the same period of time.

They were vastly different in both writing style and content-though there was a similar kernel within each.

The Durrell book, which is a battered and yellowed little paperback, was written in a style that took some adjustment to read.Flowery, cynical, jaded, and very funny once you got used to the effusive flow of words. Apparently the original author of this (in the Greek) was excommunicated for writing it.

The Cross book, is well researched, told in the type of historical fiction stylemore like some of the historical fiction I read as a teen that told the story with some embellishment and some romance, more in modern day parlance. The fact that I found the story a little too pat, is my own fault, not hers. Horrible father, long suffering mother, daughter who shines at everything and would have been the ideal child had she not had ovaries...But Cross's Joan always lands on her feet (well-- except for one time in the flood of the Tiber, when she seems to have landed on her back-- no more or there's a spoiler there.)

My dear friend who is a priest would be appalled that I might even consider it to be historically based. But who is to say? The 800's were a long time ago and historical information or sources from that time are sketchy.

AWFUL!!
A comic masterpiece?Hardly.Didn'tlaugh once.Might have been funny in 1886, but it sure isn't now.Anyway, the book is not what I was looking for, which wasserious historical fiction--an imaginative re-telling of this intriguing, long-lost story. I found it afterwards in the novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross, which is very well-researched, beautifully written, and deeply moving.That's the one to get, not this boring and unfunny "comic masterpiece".

Dated and unsatisfying hodge-podge
Supposedly a novel, this very dated tome is neither fish nor fowl.It can't seem to decide what it wants to be.A story or a lecture?Serious historical fiction, or a platform for a broad satirical attack on the Catholic Church?If the latter, then be warned:most readers won't find it very funny.Humor ages fast.What's amusing in one era is a great big yawn in another.

There's no plot in any modern sense of the word.Joan wanders, picaresque fashion, from one implausible adventure to another, with tedious predictability.Every ten pages or so I had to fight the temptation to put it down, for the story keeps lagging, occasionally coming to a dead halt to allow the author to launch yet another boring and repetitive diatribe against the Church.

There's no character development or subtlety. Joan is a difficult character to like, for she seems to have little motivation except an undiscriminating sexuality, which exists primarily as a device to launch her into strained and silly encounters with prelates.The prose is excruciatingly awkward, probably because1. it was written 150 years ago, and 2. it's been translated from the Greek.For proof of this, just read the passage quoted by one of the Spotlight reviewers above (who cites it to prove that the writing is wonderful!): "Such a miracle was unheard of; and indeed would have been a singular contribution to the annals of Christian thaumaturgy which, while it borrowed many a prodigy from the pagans, had not yet reached the point where..."etc. etc.Shakespeare, this isn't.Nor is it Joyce Carol Oates or Sue Monk or Frank McCourt or any other modern writer with a feel for the beauty and the power of the English language.

If you're looking for a non-fiction book about Pope Joan that discusses the historical evidence for her existence, then get the books by Peter Stanford (pro-Joan) or Alain Bourreau (anti-Joan). If you're looking for an exciting and well-written read based on the actual historical record,then get the novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross. Avoid this ROYIDIS/DURRELL book at all costs,for it's neither one nor the other.

BO-RING!
Bought this book thinking it was by Lawrence Durrell, for that's the author name on the cover.Don't be deceived!This book isn't written by Lawrence Durrell;the fact that his name is on the cover is obviously an attempt by the publisher to capitalize on his name. It was written over 150 years ago, in Greek, by Emmanuel Royidis, and only TRANSLATED, over 100 years later, by Durrell.

I suppose this book might be of interest to graduate students interested in studying early, formative, novel-writing. But the book is not an enjoyable experience for modern readers. It really shows its age in clumsy, out-dated phrases like, "And now, Dear Reader, let me explain..." True, as some previous reviewers have mentioned, there's occasional flashes of humor, but they're not worth the long, dull stretches of pedantic lecturing.I recommend the Cross novel instead, both for its riveting story-telling and for the fascinating information about the evidence for Pope Joan's historical existence contained in Cross' "Author's Note".
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Customer Reviews (2)

'The Firm' on Freud and Steroids
Our hero:a genius inventor living in Athens with a prostitute destined to murder her brother and become an international film star.His nemesis:Julian, suave & shadowy head of a huge multinational firm out for global domination ... and our hero's soul! His lover:Benedicta, Merlin Industries' fabulously wealthy heiress.Raised in a Turkish seraglio, she spends her days falconing in the hills above Istanbul ...

Improbable?You bet!Half the fun of this book is the B-movie TechniColor melodrama that Durrell lays on with trowel in hand and tongue almost certainly in cheek.What saves this from being a Grisham-style potboiler (fun in its own way) is the suspicion that Durrell doesn't believe in the plot any more than you do:the whole show's just a vehicle for his ideas.The shifting combination of doubles that each character pairs with in the story's weird geometry hints at the concept that everyone in the novel might just be an aspect of the same binary consciousness.The narrative style too--which loops and reloops languidly from past to present, then swoops in a flash to a climax, like one of Benedicta's falcons--tips you off that the workings of memory and the subjective sense of time it brings to our fragile notion of reality are as much a concern to Durrell as any of the events that unfold in his exotic & highly artificial world.

By today's standards, Durrell's prose is more than a little purple;that his women are basically walking dummies and his Orient the perverse, decadent hothouse of the British imperialist also marks "Tunc" as the relic of another era.But if you liked the "Alexandria Quartet" and want to recapture some of the magic, this book should fill a few pleasant afternoons.

P.S."Tunc" forms a pair with "Nunquam"--both part of Durrell's "Revolt of Aphrodite" series--and each makes more sense if you read it in conjunction with the other.

Perfectly Durrell
In a similar manner that The Alexandrian Quartet concentrates on the responsibility and the struggle of the individual artist, Tunc (meaning next in Latin) represents the scientist. Told in typical flashes of memory, the story describes the induction of a gifted scientist, Felix, into Merlin, the mysterious and very powerful firm that everybody seems to be a part of. He soon finds himself married to the ill Merlin heiress, Benedicta, and recipient of limitless wealth. As Benedicta becomes more and more tempestuous and suffers more and more psychological damage, Felix feels a new yearning for his scientific freedom. Something, whether it be the never seen chairman of Merlin, Julian, or the firm itself is always a step ahead of him.Told with the same linguistic perfection of Durrell's other novels, Tunc gracefully unfolds itself into the reader's comprehension. Nothing is revealed before it ought to be and the reader is kept with just enough information to follow the story, but no more. It is definatly worth reading. ... Read more

Product Description
Writing in the style of John Buchan and John le Carre+a7, the author of Alexandria Quartet follows a British secret service agent as he investigates the brutal murder of a fellow agent in the Balkans. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Tedious 'Boys Own' Adventure
Lacking the stylistic flair of the Alexandria Quartet, this potboiler spy novel is weighed down with stodgy descriptions of the Yugoslavian landscape and thinly drawn characters.The book feels like it was churned out in the hope of imitating the commercial success of Ian Fleming's early Bond novels.A poor introduction to the rich exoticism and flamboyance that characterizes Durrell's other works.

A Rollicking Spy Story
Durrell's 1957 espionage classic is just as fresh and exciting as ever.Methuen, intrepid British secret service veteran, tramps about the mountains of southern Serbia in search of the White Eagles, a band ofrebels to Tito's regime who support the long-deposed Yugoslav royal familyand have come across a great secret.Lovers of the spy genre will enjoythis book immensely.Those interested in the Balkans will revel inDurrell's descriptions of the landscape and people of Serbia.The WhiteEagles do exist, in fact a modern incarnation was a paramilitary bandresponsible for much terror and mayhem in Bosnia in the 1992-5 war. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An outstanding read
This duet of novels (Tunc & Nunquam) is among Durrell's greatachievements.The sense of time is Proustian, and imagery is as lush asthe Alexandria Quartet.The main theme of the novels is a Spenglerian lookat the 20th century, and modern corporations/consumerism in particular. This book is a must for any Durrell enthusiast, and involves socialanalysis as much as it does artistic introspection. Feel free to email mediscussing the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a brief diversion
A while back on rec.arts.books, someone asked for any recommendations of authors like P.G. Wodehouse. In the ensuing responses, this thin little volume by Durrell was mentioned. I recognized Durrell's name from my research into travel literature, and thought I'd give his humor a try. These are short stories, told to an unseen chronicler (and fellow diplomat) by an older collegue named Antrobus. The service is foreign, in a generic country name Vulgaria (a cute little dig at snobbish English diplomats). While the language is quite pleasant, and some of the situations quite amusing, what Durrell is missing is that sense of plot known as the conclusion (or, as a character says here, "the pay off"). Durrell tries, but never seems to get it right. I enjoyed it as a brief diversion (the book is less than 90 pages), but doubt I'll be looking for more. ... Read more

Product Description
A novel of ideas, action, mystery, of human aspiration and self-destruction, set in Avignon. The moments of happiness experienced by the diplomat Piers de Nogaret, his sister Sylvie, and Bruce, the earnest English doctor, are fleeting in the face of darker problems. ... Read more

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Novel by Lawrence Durrell first published in 1978 ... Read more

Product Description
Two marvelous travel books about the Greek islands of Corfu and Rhodes {Illustrated} ... Read more