Pied Piper of Lovers

by Lawrence Durrell, James Gifford (Introduction)

Durrell's first novel, Pied Piper of Lovers, was published in 1935, shortly after he left England to live abroad until his death in 1990. As an autobiographical Künstlerroman, it traces Walsh Clifton's Anglo-Indian childhood and his struggles to negotiate a life between mother India and father England. The trauma of leaving India for an alien home propels the novels concerns with colonial life and its wounds, transitioning from an idyllic rural world to London and Bloomsbury in the 1920s. Pied Piper of Lovers draws keenly from Durrell's own life and charts the emotional experiences that would drive the rest of his career. For these reasons, Durrell never allowed republication, and the novel was largely lost in the London Blitz. Pied Piper of Lovers prompts significant reconsideration of the impetus and political tensions behind Durrell's late modernist masterpieces, The Alexandria Quartet, The Avignon Quintet, and Bitter Lemons. This new edition allows readers to reevaluate Durrell's complex role as a colonial writer in a postcolonial world by emphasizing his irony, privileges, and bitterness for a life always lived in-between.

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

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

[Cmorice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce premier roman de Lawrence Durrell, largement autobiographique et inédit à ce jour en France, est un roman d’apprentissage. Il narre l’histoire d’un jeune homme anglais, élevé par son père et sa tante, qui doit quitter son Inde natale pour poursuivre ses études dans une Angleterre qui le mettra vite face à ses contradictions et aux déchirements imposés par sa double culture.

Lawrence Durrell est né dans les Indes britanniques en 1912. Envoyé en Angleterre à l’âge de douze ans pour ses études, il quitte le pays et le climat anglais en 1935 pour l’île grecque de Corfou. Attaché à l’ambassade de Grande-Bretagne au Caire pendant plusieurs années, il effectue des missions à Rhodes, en Argentine, à Cordoue, à Belgrade, avant de retrouver Chypre et le monde méditerranéen qu’il aime tant et qui marquera fortement son œuvre. Il s'installe finalement en 1965 dans le sud de la France, à Sommières, où il meurt en 1990.

[Jane Wilson-Howarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of the book since it was evocative of an Indian upbringing during the Raj but then I began to lose interest as I wasn't really down along in any kind of narrative arc. Granted, Durrell wasn't proud if this book and resisted its republication during hid lifetime, so I'll seek out his Alexandra quartet and see if any of those grab me, as I feel they should

[Write Room · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic chance to read this special edition published decades after the remains of the first printing were destroyed during the London blitz. A gentle naive insight into the young Larry Durrell.