eight months later... the return of the Alexandria Quartet!

[sub_divided]

I decided to finish Clea (final book in Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet) instead of Anathem. Hard to discuss this series without giving away key plot points but I will try.

Justine: See previous post.

Comments

[jokersama]

Man oh man, now I just want to reread them again. I think I had the same basic responses to the books - Mountolive was my favorite too, for the same reason! Darley, god bless him, is really rather oblivious to everything other than his bootycalls, so the concerns of the rest of the world come as such a shock to him!

[sub_divided]

Darley's smugness in the last book was so palpable, it practically vibrated off the page. XD; Although maybe that's unfair - if he realized that he'd never have the inner depths of say a Pursewarden - well, who does? So if he then decided not torture himself trying to be an Artist (yes, with a capital A) anymore and to try to find happiness elsewhere (in his relationship with Clea), who can blame him? Keats did the same thing and he didn't even read Pursewarden's real masterpieces.

Except Darley sinks almost totally into mediocrity - as Clea says, he doesn't even read anymore, and he doesn't have Keats' excuse of pursuing a career, either, since he's just got that dead-end clerk's job. So now he's still hanging out with interesting people, except that he is no longer trying to be one of them, which means he's just sponging off their energy. No wonder Clea was unhappy in that relationship

[jokersama]

It's sort of interesting to read from the perspective of a wannabe who knows he's a wannabe!

I also thought Mountolive's relationship with Leila was so interesting, too - it was immensely enriching for them both, but at the same time, it *did* sort of dig Leila deeper into her solitude.

Well, the thing is, Durrell spent so many years living in India and Greece and so on - I could be wrong, but I think the majority of his young life was spent outside of England. I interpreted it more as describing the thing he'd probably seen himself, you know? He seems like the sort of person who finds such rituals fascinating but doesn't involve himself in them. Not sure!

I'll post more when I'm not at work XD

[sub_divided]

Outside of England, but within a very tight-knit family that carried the culture with them? Certainly Gerald thought he was a total weirdo lol.

Yeah, I got the sense that Leila could have been an immense power - remember how much respect Balthazar had for her as a scholar? - but her energies went into maintaining that link with David. The way she would carefully center her investigations into wherever he happened to be stationed. On the one hand it was good that she had that (movable) link to the outside world, on the other imagine what she could have discovered if she'd let her own interests decide the direction of her research. She had that network of scholars she was in touch with, but...

Darley is such a wannabe! XD It's interesting because you repeatedly ask yourself why any of them bother with him at all. What does Melissa see in him? Justine? Why does Balthazar provide him with so many witty quotable remarks? Just because he knows Justine? Is it the same for Clea? Did he basically just luck out? Pombal and Scobie

[worldserpent]

Oh god, I need to reread these books before I discuss them. You know what, you and all of us who have read the Alexandria quartet need to someday form a group where we reread them all at once. XD

[sub_divided]

Can't you discuss them even a little without rereading? I'm dying to discuss.

http://sub-divided.livejournal.com/149986.html?thread=1651938#t1651938

Half of that comment is about Mountolive, which I read six months ago! If I can do it, you can do it.

[worldserpent]

Look, it was like over two years ago!

[sub_divided]

Further thoughts. To Darley, Pursewarden's suicide is inexplicable. Justine thought he died for her. Mountolive thought he died for him - or rather, that he took his own life because he'd compromised their diplomatic friendship. Liza thought he died for her. Structure of the series suggests that Liza is right, because her view comes last. Or were all three right? You can die for more than one reason. It never made sense for Pursewarden to kill himself over his diplomatic position, since that wasn't where his true self lay. Justine's been trivialized by the last book so I suppose it's not her either. But somehow Liza's theory also doesn't seem right...maybe it's only because that relationship is so strange yet runs so deep, it's difficult to get a grip on. (You notice Durell doesn't even try to write his letters to her

sorry that it's taken me so long to reply, have some chat

[sub_divided]

me: actually my theory (which i told sabina) is that justine is some of durrell's earlier writing that he just couldn't bear to throw away XD
Charmian: LOL
me: so he found a way to salvage it
Charmian: Interesting theory
me: think about how difficult it would be to rewrite all of justine to include the insights in balthazar
Charmian: well, since Darley didn't know about them, how could he have had such insights?
A first person narrator cannot tell what he doesn't know
me: you're assuming that the gaps were (originally) deliberate
Charmian: ah, so in the beginning, Durell thought Darley's story was the correct story?
me: i'm saying that durrell looked over what he had written, and noticed that there were weaknesses - for instance, it's too serious, he needs some humor to lighten the mood
and the characters are flat - that can't possibly be all there is to them
so he thought about how he could fix what he'd done so far
and came up with the revelations in balthazar
Charmian: ah, and it was by introducing another perspective

[sub_divided]

Also I think that Durell's thoughts about writing, about being an Artist, in the fourth book are the most interesting part of the series. Which was why I liked your posts - those were the parts you quoted. *g* Definitely explains why this series has a cult reputation among artistic types, especially among artistic types preoccupied with the Meaning of True Art. I think Durrell pretty much nails this scene, full of interesting characters who spend all of their time coming up with witty, quotable things to say to each other - although the way this scene intersects with a political/career diplomat/espionage scene in Alexandria is really interesting. And maybe common to all colonial administrations? You attract a group of people who are really smart, but also really odd...

Could definitely have used more on Narouz, Scobie, Da Capo, and Pombal. Too many interesting characters, that's the problem!