Kennedy Gammage's Review of Deus Loci (NS13 2012-2013)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT IN DEUS LOCI:  THE LAWRENCE DURRELL JOURNAL 13

by Kennedy Gammage

ⓒ2014

Congratulations to our fellow LD enthusiasts in the ILDS for publishing another number in their Lawrence Durrell Journal, covering the years 2012 and 13. It’s a substantial work at 234 pages plus a long introduction, with nine thought-provoking essays, followed by reminiscences about Durrell, poetry and reviews. All in all a solid addition to the DEUS LOCI series.

Guest editor Robert Haslam, the British independent Durrell scholar who ‘gathered together most of the essays’ in DL13 for Editor Anna Lillios, kicks things off with an INTRODUCTION TO EMENDED READINGS: A SURVEY OF BRITISH CRITICISM ON DURRELL – EMENDED READINGS being the name of his own project to ‘re-evaluate Durrell’s position in British literature.’ DL13 essentially became that project.

Haslam’s introduction to DL13 persuasively supports his argument that, though Durrell is perceived to be ‘an English writer,’ that he is much more popular in France and America (at least on the basis of ‘a substantial corpus of criticism’) than he is in England. Here we arrive at the possible semantic confusion between English (a language) and British (a country) – because why should anyone consider Durrell to be British? He’s not even a ‘British ex-pat’ since his boyhood up to age 11 was spent in India. He rarely lived there and his visits were brief. The only decent link I can see is that Durrell ‘worked for’ Britain for some time during and after the war, and of course some of his best books like Reflections on a Marine Venus document his earning a paycheck from Pudding Island.

DL13’s first essay is LAWRENCE DURRELL: THE POET AS IDLER by Clive Scott, who calls idleness Durrell’s ‘presiding muse’ and a lens through which to read his poems. The late Ray Morrison follows with LAWRENCE DURRELL’S LYRIC, DEUS LOCI, AS THE HERALDIC MIRROR OF HIS WORLD, a close reading of that delightful poem, comparing it to the Tao. I welcome the emphasis on his poetry. Dipping into it now, I too find much to admire and enjoy.

Dianne Vipond explores THE POLITICS OF LAWRENCE DURRELL’S MAJOR FICTION and finds him to be ‘much more politically progressive than is commonly acknowledged.’

[BTW, as an aside, I just searched Amazon for a copy of Personal Landscape and they have one collector’s copy at $60. Unfortunately I’m caught a bit short this month. However, I plan to pick up a copy of The Black Book next time I go to the used book store. I should at least give it a go. ]

I really enjoyed Michael Haag’s THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET: FROM ONE VOLUME TO FOUR which details the amazing Alexandrian history of Claude Vincendon’s family, the well-to-do Menasces – which clearly inspired Durrell and helped him create volumes two through four of the AQ.

Fiona Tomkinson follows with THE MYTH OF PTAH AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE AVIGNON QUINTET – very interesting, though by this juncture I am so far beyond the idea of Blanford ‘creating’ Sutcliffe, Bruce and the Ogres that it seems mere blather to me: commonplaces repeated ad nauseum until no one bothers to challenge them anymore. It would make much more sense to just consider Blanford insane and call it a day.

The next essay is “MANUFACTURING DREAMS”¹ OR LAWRENCE DURRELL’S FICTION REVISITED THROUGH THE PRISM OF DE CHIRICO’S METAPHYSICAL PAINTING by Corinne Alexandre-Garner and Isabelle Keller-Privat, the doyennes of French Durrell studies. In the passages they quote describing Constance’s dream, I was puzzled by all the asterisks (“He had taken his ***** in quiet fingers…” etc.) and wondered if the authors had censored it for some reason – but no, it’s right there in the book (from Chapter Nine Tu Duc Revisited,) the only place in Constance where it appears – sadly, with no explanation. I was hoping the authors would mention it, but if they did I missed it.

Mary Byrne uncovers THE NEO-BAROQUE IN DURRELL’S MAJOR NOVELS – another lens into the master’s work. What follows next is perhaps my favorite essay, WEAVING EAST AND WEST: THE QUINCUNCIAL STRUCTURE IN MONSIEUR – A READER’S GUIDE by Robert Haslam. This has a lot of good information in it. I wasn’t aware, for instance, of Marcabru the Troubadour. But I am puzzled by this reference to Lord Banquo as “another name reference, this time to Ophelia’s brother and her possible lover.” Of course Banquo is from Macbeth, not Hamlet – is he thinking of Laertes?

Finally, MATERIALIZING THE POETIC: LAWRENCE DURRELL’S AN IRISH FAUSTUS by Ralph Yarrow rounds out the essays. Sadly, another gap in my reading – but I plan to remedy someday. What follows are a series of delightful Reminiscences about LD, from Paul Gotch, Barbara Robinson, Frederic Jacques Temple, Anthea Morton-Saner, Paula Wislenef, Mary Byrne, Peter Baldwin, Ralph Steadman, Richard Pine and others. Brief notes of my own meeting with Ralph Steadman in 1984:

Past Kentish Town and Camden Road, a junkyard and the rooftops of North London, we arrive at Highbury and take the tube to Embankment. Across the Hungerford footbridge and into the Royal Festival Hall for the Ralph Steadman exhibit. The artist is here,being interviewed for television. I get a minute alone with him.

"Mr. Steadman, a brief question: are you still friends with Dr. Thompson?"

"Oh indeed yes," he replied in a cultured British accent.

"I had the opportunity to hear him speak in Berkeley about a month ago." "Oh really," he replied, interested. "And what did he say?"

"He mostly talked about politics and the necessity of defeating Mr. Reagan, but I think he was dissatisfied with the caliber of the audience response."

"Yes, they're all rather conservative now, aren't they? Future business executives and all that." I smiled.

"I'm afraid you're right," I replied, walking off.

"Nice talking with you," he called after. What a wild talent!

What follows to end the issue are the poems (my favorite is “Waterbury” by Jerome L. Wyant, though I think he should have capitalized Chevy) and then Pamela Francis reviews the delightful Autumn Gleanings by Dr. Theodore Stephanides. Lovely little book. Contributor notes and that’s it. But the good news is, there may be a #14 in the works.

Thanks - Ken