The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell

Link to video of Durrell's biography from the BBC;

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0:00 - Intro
0:28 - Justine
1:55 - Balthazar
3:43 - Mountolive
4:42 - Clea
6:24 - My history with The A.Q.
9:41 - Lawrence Durrell
11:52 - It is the greatest!

[ev]

I have "Justine" on my shelf for at least 25 years, and now is the first time, after watching your video, that I actually want to try and read it. Thanks!

[scottwilliams]

Durrell is my favourite writer. The quartet is a masterpiece I will always cherish. I'm in the middle of his quintet series, which is equally if not more staggering than the quartet...

[DavoodGozli]

Absolutely loved this video! Thank you, Grant.

[MrMojoRisin]

My literature teacher in high school mentioned Justine, and his description of the prose made me want to read it. I'd owned a copy for years but never got around to reading it until last year, almost forty years since that initial high school introduction! I'm now reading Clea and hope to have the Quartet finished in a week or two. It's wonderful stuff.

[grantlovesbooks]

I think I've got the video/audio in synch. Thanks a lot to Jack Walter for pointing it out! Otherwise this video would really have been a dud.

[js.]

What an excellent review and video Grant. Thank you for posting this. I read AQ back in 2008-2009. Mind blown! Diamond level literature. Perfect description. It is not always the story that captures, it is the artfulness. The prose is luxurious, decadent and filling. I took my time reading this excellent tetralogy and I am due for a reread. You summed up my feelings and thoughts about this series brilliantly. Another analogy I use is that one does not guzzle 12 year old single malt, one savors, invites and divines in a heavenly spirit. AQ is just like that. Thank you so much for this again and I am now a subscriber to your channel. I look forward to your videos on literature. You are a man who knows what he speaks.

[kimleine]

Thanks for this! I read the quartet about ten years ago and it passed me by rather unnoticed, but still left me longing to return. So I read a few others of his, including Tunc, and liked it, but wanted something more. Now I know it's time to reread the Alexandria Quartet!

[PavelDGromnic]

Grant, Thanks for the time you've spent doing this. I am very grateful.. I discovered it late in life, after nearly a half century of reading. I haven't read it three times.... but I probably will. These louche characters are my kind of people. I've known their colleagues all my life. And it is an excellent adventure to read these books. The description of the bombing of Alexandria harbor is perfect. You wouldn't know what was happening if you weren't clued in before hand, and that adds to the really superb depiction.

[annamilrud]

First of all, Grant, thank you for the hard job you undertook to wake up people who were not born to read. Monumental undertaking. Good luck! I am that person who was born to read and reads every day for the past 67 years. And your YouTube Vlog has very important quality for people like me. It is wrenching and heart breaking when one like me reads a Masterpiece like Alexandria Quartet and no one to talk about that. You are that important person which closes the gap.
It happened I just finished Clea. I know I am going to read all 4 books again. Not only because English is my second language. It is far from ordinary reading. It elevates reader to a new level. I doubt I would find right words to describe my feelings. So, I just shut up.

[tamaramylo]

thank you for this video! when i first finished the whole series, my outlook on life completely changed. i don't know, it has something i have never encountered in any book i've ever read, maybe it's the subtle complexity of the everthickening plot, maybe it's the characters, i don't know. and actually, there are many essays on this topic, what's interesting and maybe helpful for interpreting the point of these books - it's based on the relativity theory and the space time continuum - the first three books are length, width and height, and the fourth one represents the passing time as the 4th dimension. honestly - a postmodern masterpiece! (and it's interesting to me the connection you had with balthazar as the "dropping bomb", for me it was clea, as the first present moment in the story, it ties up everything perfectly, and still you don't feel there will ever be an end)

[JohnTimothyRatliffe]

Excellent . I have collected Durrell most of my adult life. I welcome any thoughts about any and all of his works. I don't have many first editions but I have one of the most completel private collections. I like your work and will follow you.

[allisoncope]

Thank you for reviewing this one! It's been high on my tbr for several years.

[carlosbranca]

I read Justine years ago. Then recently i bought the whole set and read it again. I am half way through Balthazar and like you said it's very surprising in respect of what i thought i knew about Justine. I have to read slower than normal because of the florid prose and english is not my first language. Great video, Subscribed!

[SpringboardThought]

Hah! I am reading A Prayer For Owen Meany right now and the protagonist goes on at one point about these books. Always fun when things like that happen. A bookish convergence. I am twice as sold on them now, though.

[kolya]

I wasn't particularly keen on The Black Book, but you have inspired me to read TAQ. Will try to do so fastisiously! Just discovered and am enjoying your channel

[nedmerrill]

I picked up _Justine_ a few days ago and I've read about half of it. It's interesting and unique. It's spirit reminds me of Lou Reed's music. His description of the characters reminds me of the Lou Reed songs _Hangin' Round_ and _Wild Child._ (Justine is the Wild Child, "Always back to Justine"). And the mood is often like the song _Perfect Day._ Anyway, it is striking me like that.

[CristinaInNeverland]

a little update: It seems that my criticisms were related to the translation into Portuguese…I saw the initial excerpt of Justine on Goodreads (in English) and loved it!!! for example and just a small part:

"In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions of spring."

which in Portuguese they translated into a vulgar, common phrase:

"In the middle of winter, spring begins to make itself felt"

It lost the magic!
In some parts, the Portuguese translation was or very "normal" or a bit exaggerated and therefore very colorful (even more than the original) and went overboard for me. After realizing this, I started to put some of the exaggerations I read into perspective. I really enjoyed it, but not as much as the feeling I got from reading that little bit in English! (but the 4 books are too big to read in the original language, if it were fewer pages, but as it is, no). Hope you are well Grant, until the next readings!🙂

[nev]

Great video on a much neglected modern classic. Nice to see your love and appreciation for this text. It deserves a deep read for full appreciation. I have read it, but not deeply but that is a goal of mine. There is an interesting analysis (thesis by Lillios) of love in TAQ floating around the internet which is well worth a look if you are interested.

[gitalloyd]

And don't forget Durrell's sly joke: Darly is a phonetic anagram of Larry D.

[kcmattoso]

Awesome. I´ll buy Balthazar and Clea right away. And Nunquam as well.