From the Elephant's Back: Collected Essays & Travel Writings

Marc Notes: Best known for his novels and travel writing, Lawrence Durrell defied easy classification within 20th-century modernism. His antiauthoritarian tendencies put him at odds with many contemporaries - aesthetically and politically. However, thanks to a compelling recontextualization by editor James Gifford, these 38 previously unpublished and out-of-print essays and letters reveal that Durrell's maturation as an artist was rich, complex, and subtle. Biographical Note: Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990) was a critically hailed novelist, poet, and travel writer born in Jalandhar, British India, and best known for the Alexandria Quartet" novels, which were ranked by the Modern Library as among the greatest works of English literature in the twentieth century. James Gifford is associate professor of English and the Director of the University Core Curriculum at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Vancouver. He has published several scholarly works on Lawrence Durrell. His latest publication is Personal Modernisms" (2014). Publisher Marketing:"This collection has a straightforward ambition: to redirect the interpretive perspective that readers bring to Lawrence Durrell's literary works by returning their attention to his short prose." - From the Introduction Best known for his novels and travel writing, Lawrence Durrell defied easy classification within twentieth-century modernism. His anti-authoritarian tendencies put him at odds with many contemporaries-aesthetically and politically. However, thanks to a compelling recontextualization by editor James Gifford, these 38 previously unpublished or out-of-print essays and letters reveal that Durrell's maturation as an artist was rich, complex, and subtle. This edition promises to open up new approaches to interpreting his more famous works. Durrell fans will treasure this selection of rare nonfiction, while scholars of Durrell, Modernist literature, anti-authoritarian artists, and the Personalist movement will also appreciate Gifford's fine editorial work.

Contributor Bio:  Durrell, Lawrence Born in Jalandhar, British India, in 1912 to Indian-born British colonials, Lawrence Durrell was a critically hailed and beloved novelist, poet, humorist, and travel writer best known for the Alexandria Quartet novels, which were ranked by the Modern Library as among the greatest works of English literature in the twentieth century. A passionate and dedicated writer from an early age, Durrell's prolific career also included the groundbreaking Avignon Quintet, whose first novel, "Monsieur "(1974), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and whose third novel, "Constance "(1982), was nominated for the Booker Prize. He also penned the celebrated travel memoir "Bitter Lemons of Cyprus "(1957), which won the Duff Cooper Prize. Durrell corresponded with author Henry Miller for forty-five years, and Miller influenced much of his early work, including a provocative and controversial novel, "The Black Book "(1938). Durrell died in France in 1990. Contributor Bio:  Baldwin, Peter Peter Baldwin is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles and Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. His books include "The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe Are Alike."