The Black Book (Durrell novel): Difference between revisions
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In reviewing it in ''The Observer'', Philip Toynbee wrote, "This is a wild, passionate, brilliantly gaudy and flamboyant extravaganza; it is intrinsically and essentially, the book of a young man - Durrell was 24 when he wrote it - richly obscene, energetically morbid, very often very funny indeed, self-pitying, but, above all, stylistically and verbally inventive as no other young man's novel of the period was even attempting to be." |
In reviewing it in ''The Observer'', Philip Toynbee wrote, "This is a wild, passionate, brilliantly gaudy and flamboyant extravaganza; it is intrinsically and essentially, the book of a young man - Durrell was 24 when he wrote it - richly obscene, energetically morbid, very often very funny indeed, self-pitying, but, above all, stylistically and verbally inventive as no other young man's novel of the period was even attempting to be." |
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Durrell told an interviewer that when he arrived in London in 1937, at [[Victoria Station]], after a long period abroad , the first thing [[Hugh Gordon Porteus]] said to him was that [[Wyndham Lewis]] would 'have it in for him', because of the 'portrait' of Lewis in ''The Black Book''. Durrell replied that he had never met Wyndham Lewis.<ref> In conversation with D G Bridson, date of broadcast 27 01 1963, from CD - BBC/British Library, The Spoken Word, Lawrence Durrell. </ref> |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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Revision as of 15:25, 11 March 2012
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| Author | Lawrence Durrell |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Villa Seurat Series |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Obelisk Press |
Publication date | 1938 |
| Publication place | France |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | Panic Spring |
| Followed by | Cefalu |
The Black Book is a novel by Lawrence Durrell, published in 1938 by the Obelisk Press. It is set with two competing narrators: Lawrence Lucifer on Corfu, in Greece, and Death Gregory in London. Faber and Faber offered to publish the novel in an expurgated edition, but on the advice of Henry Miller, Durrell declined.[1] It was published in the Villa Seurat Series along with Henry Miller's Max and the White Phagocytes and Anaïs Nin's Winter of Artifice.
Although published in 1938, Durrell wrote the novel primarily over a 16 month period from September 1935 until December 1936[1]. The novel shows several surrealist influences, and these may be in part related to materials from the 1936 London International Surrealist Exhibition, about which Henry Miller was sending Durrell materials from Herbert Read.
The initial publication was in Paris as its sexual content prohibited publication at that time in England. It was published in the USA in 1960 but not published in Great Britain until 1973, following the successful courtroom defense of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.
In reviewing it in The Observer, Philip Toynbee wrote, "This is a wild, passionate, brilliantly gaudy and flamboyant extravaganza; it is intrinsically and essentially, the book of a young man - Durrell was 24 when he wrote it - richly obscene, energetically morbid, very often very funny indeed, self-pitying, but, above all, stylistically and verbally inventive as no other young man's novel of the period was even attempting to be."
Durrell told an interviewer that when he arrived in London in 1937, at Victoria Station, after a long period abroad , the first thing Hugh Gordon Porteus said to him was that Wyndham Lewis would 'have it in for him', because of the 'portrait' of Lewis in The Black Book. Durrell replied that he had never met Wyndham Lewis.[2]
External links
- The International Lawrence Durrell Society Official website of ILDS
- Durrell 2012: The Lawrence Durrell Centenary Centenary event website and Durrell Journal
- The Durrell School of Corfu School dedicated to the works and lives Lawrence and Gerald Durrell
References
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