Lawrence Durrell

Birth: 1912-02-27 , Jalandhar

Death: 1990-11-07 , Sommières

Lawrence George Durrell (1912-1990) was a British novelist, poet, playwright, and diplomat. Born in British India, he spent much of his adult life in the Mediterranean, and his work often reflects these experiences. He is best known for his novel "The Alexandria Quartet", a tetralogy that explores the complexities of human relationships and cultural identity. Durrell was also a prolific poet and wrote travel books, essays, and memoirs. His style is characterized by rich, sensory prose and the exploration of themes such as love, war, memory, and the search for meaning.

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Awards

1986

Cholmondeley Awards

Annual award granted to British poets for works published in the UK, focusing on quality and merit, without specific categories.

Poems List

Of women, the most.we can say, not being Frenchmen, is that they are burrowing animals.

All artists today are expected to cultivate a little fashionable unhappiness.

Truth is a woman. That is why it is enigmatic.

Truth is what most contradicts itself.

Truth is a matter of direct apprehension—you can’t climb a ladder of mental concepts to it. y

Truth disappears with the telling of it.

Comedians are the nearest to suicide.

No one can go on being a rebel too long without turning into an autocrat.

Music was invented to.confirm human loneliness.

As Thoreau nearly said: “Most wives lead lives of quiet disapprobation.”

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Lawrence Durrell was born in Jalandhar, Punjab, British India. He moved to the United Kingdom with his family in 1920. His literary career began with the publication of poetry, but it was with prose that he gained international recognition. His tetralogy "The Alexandria Quartet", composed of "Justine", "Balthazar", "Mountolive", and "Clea", was published between 1957 and 1960. This set of novels, set in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1930s and 1940s, is celebrated for its exploration of the complexities of love, desire, politics, and identity, with overlapping and contradictory narratives. Durrell also served as a diplomat on various missions, including Greece and Argentina, and taught at universities in the United States. He lived much of his adult life on Greek islands, such as Corfu and Crete, where he wrote many of his works. He died in Sommières, in the south of France.