Lawrence Durrell's series of four novels set in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1940s. The lush and sensuous series consists of Justine (1957), Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1958), and Clea (1960). Justine, Balthazar, and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II. In Clea, the story continues into the years during the war. One L.G. Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves, and those he knows. In Justine, Darley attempts to recover from and put into perspective his recently ended affair with a woman. Balthazar reinterprets the romantic perspective he placed on the affair and its aftermath in Justine, in more philosophical and intellectual terms. Mountolive tells a story mingling love, political intrigue, and espionage from a more objective, third-person perspective. Clea, the concluding novel, follows Darley's return to wartime Alexandria, where the characters have been profoundly transformed by time and conflict, bringing the quartet to its luminous close.
The Alexandria Quartet
Year
1960
Pages
890
Tags
Description
Lawrence Durrell's series of four novels set in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1940s. The lush and sensuous series consists of Justine (1957), Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1958), and Clea (1960). Justine, Balthazar, and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II. In Clea, the story continues into the years during the war. One L.G. Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves, and those he knows. In Justine, Darley attempts to recover from and put into perspective his recently ended affair with a woman. Balthazar reinterprets the romantic perspective he placed on the affair and its aftermath in Justine, in more philosophical and intellectual terms. Mountolive tells a story mingling love, political intrigue, and espionage from a more objective, third-person perspective. Clea, the concluding novel, follows Darley's return to wartime Alexandria, where the characters have been profoundly transformed by time and conflict, bringing the quartet to its luminous close.
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