Blue Thirst

by Lawrence Durrell

Book by Durrell, Lawrence

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, 20th Century, Literature, Biography, British Literature

56 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Lawrence George Durrell was a critically hailed and beloved novelist, poet, humorist, and travel writer best known for The Alexandria Quartet novels, which were ranked by the Modern Library as among the greatest works of English literature in the twentieth century. A passionate and dedicated writer from an early age, Durrell’s prolific career also included the groundbreaking Avignon Quintet, whose first novel, Monsieur (1974), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and whose third novel, Constance (1982), was nominated for the Booker Prize. He also penned the celebrated travel memoir Bitter Lemons of Cyprus (1957), which won the Duff Cooper Prize. Durrell corresponded with author Henry Miller for forty-five years, and Miller influenced much of his early work, including a provocative and controversial novel, The Black Book (1938). Durrell died in France in 1990.

The time Lawrence spent with his family, mother Louisa, siblings Leslie, Margaret Durrell, and Gerald Durrell, on the island of Corfu were the subject of Gerald's memoirs and have been filmed numerous times for TV.

Reviews

[J.]

This small book contains the transcripts of two lectures, the first was given in the Beckmann Auditorium at Caltech in Pasadena under the title "A poet in the Mediterranean", the second was given at Claremont College Pomona and is concerned with Lawrence's time working for the as a senior press officer to the British Embassies in Athens and Cairo and press attaché in Alexandria and Belgrade.

In 1975 he wrote "My first impulse when I received these two transcripts of impromptu lectures I gave in California, was the normal one, namely to sit down and rewrite them, to give the prose some shape. But then, on reflecting, it seemed to me that it would be better to leave them just the way they were... They seemed more actual that way; I thought that if I tidied them up I might take all the life out of them."

His reminisces of his time in Greece discusses the joys of living primitively and simply in a fisherman's cottage in the north of Corfu. He lauds his brother's book 'My family and other animals' by Gerald Durrell where he is lampooned mercilessly as the pompous 'Larry'. He mentions Henry Miller who visited him in Corfu and with whom he enjoyed a long friendship. He was amused that his house became a place of pilgrimage in later years and tells a story about himself and Gerald going in disguise on one of the tours and listened to the tour guide spurt misinformation about the family.

The second lecture deals with the perils of diplomacy. He fell into diplomacy when the war broke out because he was good at languages and could speak and write Greek. In those days it was difficult to communicate with Whitehall so diplomats had to be decisive. He lampoons the diplomatic service quite effectively. He tells a particular amusing story about an over zealous attache who took a load of top secret documents to an Athenian crematorium when they feared that the Germans were closing in. He also discusses back firing propaganda in Egypt, sunken ships and funny mistakes in local papers. When he was producing a paper called "Kronos" he found out that an island in micronesium of a population of twenty five was ordering 400 copies. Baffled by this he went to the island and was suitably chastened to find that they were using the paper to wrap the fish with."The whole of this little fishing industry was based on my journalism". He was lucky enough to have T.S. Eliot as his editor and Noel Coward as an acquaintance.

Lawrence must have been a highly amusing after dinner speaker. As the quote at the beginning of this review would suggest this is not a particularly well written text, but there are a couple of good stories and nice pictures.

[John Ratliffe]

This little booklet contains just a couple of transcripts of two lectures given by Durrell, and like all things Durrell the man's intelligence, culture, and wry sense of humor steals unnoticed into your consciousness until you are reading with a smile. Durrell's prose is equivalent to painting with words, and it is almost always so complex and intense that it seems to conceal the man behind it, which is not necessarily a bad thing. So, it is a refreshing experience to come across something of his real world that lays out anecdotes of his development as a writer, his famous friendships, and his formative wartime experiences in British diplomatic service. You could easily welcome him as an erudite and entertaining guest at your table. You should read this if you have already been waterboarded, so to speak, by his novels and travel writings. Those who would undertake the journey into his writings will be rewarded, and most of us would start with his famous "Justine." Personally, I found "The Black Book" to be a wonderful, inscrutable black pearl. Good hunting.

[Lidija]

Very brief book, consisting of two unedited transcripts of lectures Durrell had given in the US. The first one, on his time in Greece, is a lot like having the director's cut of "Prospero's Cell"- lovely - but the second one (on his time in the Foreign Svc) was a drag.

Recommended for the staunch Durrellian, but doubtful anyone else would find much of interest in this volume.

[Zeljana]

This is a transcript of a couple of Durrell's lectures. I would read anything this man wrote, so I enjoyed every sentence of it and highlighted quite a few passages.
I loved the parts that describe Greece in the interwar period the most and the anecdotes from Durrell's diplomatic career were surprisingly entertaining.

[Simon Mcleish]

Mildly entertaining transcripts of a couple of lectures Lawrence Durrell gave in the USA, mainly about his experiences as a diplomat. A case of "you had to be there", I suspect.

[Ernie]

Short and sweet. I confusingly thought the author was John Berger until about halfway through.

[Kerry]

Certainly not a volume to pick up if you've never read anything by Durrell. However, if you've already established you're a fan, these charming, rambling, off-the-cuff transcripts of two speeches will happily fill an afternoon. Durrell's interesting life, and his focus on sharing strange escapades and the characteristics of favorite personalities, makes for clever reading.