Lawrence Durrell, one of the most important and fascinating writers Britain has produced this century, published sixteen novels, numerous volumes of poetry, three plays, six travel books, three books of humorous anecdotes, four volumes of letters and essays, and several screenplays.
Born in India, schooled under Mount Everest, where Tibetan lamas trekked to and fro, Lawrence Durrell lived thereafter in a Tibet of the mind. Expelled from his paradise to school in gloomy England, he fled into exile, spending his most productive years in Greece and around the Mediterranean. In wartime Egypt he conceived 'The Alexandria Quartet', which brought fame with its 'exploration of modern love' and experimental form.
Wine and sun inspired him; sex and madness obsessed as sources of creativity. These things mark his work, showing a dark side to the effervescent wit evident in his writing. Posthumous charges of incest cast a shadow over his memory, but nothing can detract from the scope and brilliance of Durrell's achievement.
A biography that makes Durrell the man greater than his unkind and unloving heart.
