"Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, From The Elephant's Back is an outstanding collection of masterfully crafted essays organized into four major sections: Personal Positions; Ideas About Literature; Eternal Contemporaries; and Spirit of Place: Travel Writings. Very highly recommended for academic library collections, From The Elephant's Back will prove to be engaging, memorable, thought-provoking reading, and ultimately rewarding."

Midwest Book Review

"...buy the book for Durrell’s wit, elegance, philosophy, joie de vivre and flaming intelligence."

- Richard Pine, The Irish Times

"A century after Durrell's birth, readers will find Gifford's reconsideration necessary to that century's understanding of itself."

Se alle

"The result is that this edition promises to open up new approaches to interpreting Durrell's more famous work. Durrell fans will treasure the book's selection of rare nonfiction, while scholars of Durrell, modernist literature, anti-authoritarian artists, and the Personalist movement will also appreciate Gifford's fine editorial work."

CAUT Bulletin

"[T]he interest of this volume does not only lie in the immeasurable wealth of Durrellian archives that are brought to the reader’s knowledge: it also sketches out the fascinating portrait of an artist engaged in the creative production of his generation so that readers of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Richard Aldington, Cavafy, and Seferis will discover fascinating pieces of critical analysis where they may least have expected to.... The final part devoted to travel writing will similarly edify and stimulate both Durrell’s readers and all those who seek to understand the refinements of the genre." [Full review at http://ebc.revues.org/3502]

- Isabelle Keller-Privat, Études britanniques contemporaines

“…the proverb says that whoever sees the world from the back of an elephant learns the secrets of the jungle and becomes a seer. I had to be content to become a poet.” —Lawrence Durrell Best known for his novels and travel writing, Lawrence Durrell defied easy classification within twentieth-century Modernism. His anti-authoritarian tendencies put him at odds with many contemporaries—aesthetically and politically. However, thanks to a compelling recontextualization by editor James Gifford, these thirty-eight previously unpublished and out-of-print essays and letters reveal that Durrell’s maturation as an artist was rich, complex, and subtle. Durrell fans will treasure this selection of rare nonfiction, while scholars of Durrell, Modernist literature, anti-authoritarian artists, and the Personalist movement will also appreciate Gifford’s fine editorial work. Foreword by Peter Baldwin. “Gifford’s scholarly command of the archives shows—especially his working intimacy with the unpublished archived words of Durrell’s editors, publishers, and collaborators. I have no doubt that this collection will serve as a starting point for any number of new critical ventures into the life and writing of Lawrence Durrell.” —Charles Sligh, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Les mer
Thirty-eight rare, out-of-print or previously unpublished essays and letters by Lawrence Durrell with scholarly introduction.
Contents VII Foreword PETER BALDWIN XI Acknowledgements XIII Introduction JAMES GIFFORD 1 From the Elephant’s Back PERSONAL POSIT IONS 27 A Letter from the Land of the Gods 29 Airgraph on Refugee Poets in Africa 37 No Clue to Living 47 This Magnetic, Bedevilled Island That Tugs at My Heart 53 Lamas in a French Forest IDEAS ABOUT LITERATURE 63 The Prince and Hamlet A Diagnosis 73 Hamlet, Prince of China 83 Prospero’s Isle To Caliban 99 Ideas About Poems 101 Ideas About Poems II 103 The Heraldic Universe 107 Hellene and Philhellene 123 A Cavafy Find 129 A Real Heart Transplant into English 135 Introduction to Wordsworth 149 L’amour, Clef du Mystère? ETERNAL CONTEMPORARIES 183 Theatre Sense and Sensibility 187 The Happy Rock 199 Studies in Genius VI Groddeck 225 Constant Zarian Triple Exile 235 Enigma Variations 239 The Shades of Dylan Thomas 247 Bernard Spencer 257 The Other Eliot 271 Richard Aldington 277 On George Seferis 281 Poets Under the Bed SPIRIT OF PLACE : TRAVEL WRITING 287 Corfu Isle of Legend 297 The Island of the Rose 311 Can Dreams Live on When Dreamers Die? 317 Family Portrait 325 Letter in the Sofa 331 The Moonlight of Your Smile 337 The Poetic Obsession of Dublin 347 Borromean Isles 353 Alexandria Revisited 359 With Durrell in Egypt 379 Works Cited 391 Index
Les mer
"Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, From The Elephant's Back is an outstanding collection of masterfully crafted essays organized into four major sections: Personal Positions; Ideas About Literature; Eternal Contemporaries; and Spirit of Place: Travel Writings. Very highly recommended for academic library collections, From The Elephant's Back will prove to be engaging, memorable, thought-provoking reading, and ultimately rewarding."
Les mer
Preface, notes, bibliography, index. foreword

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781772120516
Publisert
2015-03-06
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Alberta Press
Vekt
650 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
28 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
440

Forfatter
Redaktør

Biographical note

Born in Jalandhar, British India, Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990) was a critically hailed novelist, poet, 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. James Gifford is Professor of English and the director of the university core at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Vancouver.