Review: The Alexandria Quartet

I have just finished reading the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. It consists of the books: Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive, and Clea. For the most part the first book tells a story, the second tells the same story, but with more details, the third expands on this and the fourth wraps the story up. I first heard about them from the Times Literary Supplement, which wrote an in depth article about them and got me interested. Durrell is largely unknown here in the United States as far as I can tell.

The story is about a group of expatriate Brits and local Alexandrians in the years before the Second World War. It is a world full of love triangles, deception, cruelty, ambition, and friendship. For all the lies and cheating the group stays close and seems to accept their basic nature's worst aspects.

Durrell was a British poet who wrote in the 1950's. You can really see his poetic past in the writing of the books. His prose is dense and evocative, drawing an engaging portrait of Alexandria. Making the city a character in itself.

The main character is Darley, a British teacher and aspiring novelist. He is living with a young consumptive woman named Melissa. Their relationship is only a modest love affair, but they stay together even though she is fully aware of his infidelity with Justine.

Justine is the Jewish wife of Nessim, and the lover of Darley and a few others. She is a mysterious beauty, who has an interest in mysticism and a desire for intrigue. Much of Justine's actions are left a mystery to the reader, and it's this lack of knowledge that helps propel the reader's curiosity for much of the series. She is without question the most fascinating character in the story.

Nessim is Justine's husband and a friend of Darley's. His behavior is often erratic and leads Darley to believe that his safety is in jeopardy because of his affair with Justine. But, Nessim is far more crafty than that and his behavior is strange for bigger reasons. His machinations are central to the story and the mystery of the group.

Clea is a young British painter who lives on the periphery of the group for much of the series, but is involved with Darley in the last book. Her relationship with him helps to close the series and settle this moment in the character's lives. She is young, beautiful, innocent and caring.

Alexandria is one of the characters in the novel. It is on one hand beautiful and seductive and at the same time disgusting and backwards. It is this dichotomy that makes the city come alive as it's own creature. It is bright and loud, with the sounds of the souk and smell of jasmine. But, at the same time full of prostitutes, orphan vagabonds and British pedophiles. They all combine to make a vibrant, bustling, engaging city.

There are a lot of other characters in the books and their lives interact and become intertwined again and again. But, ultimately, it's the relationship between Justine and Darley that makes the books fascinating. I won't get into any details to ruin anything, but it is an amazing and perplexing story. Durrell does a great job of telling you just enough that you think you understand what is happening, then coming back later and filling in more information and changing your view, then doing it again. That is what makes this story so compelling.

I would recommend this series to anyone interested in British literature of the 1950's. Durrell is a neglected master (in the U.S. at least).