When I was a student, back in the early sixties, the four novels written by Lawrence Durrell, collectively entitled the Alexandria Quartet, were all the rage. Absolutely everybody was reading them….except me, that is. For some reason they remained on my list of things I wanted to read, but never got round to it. Then last year I decided (fifty-five years later!) that I would take the plunge and find out what all the fuss was about, and I began to read the first of the series (Justine). I have just finished the fourth volume (Clea), with a great feeling of achievement.
I’m not sure what all the hullaballoo was about. I have enjoyed the experience, and I acknowledge that the series is an interesting exercise in literary construction. The four books are rather uneven in quality, that’s for sure. In particular I was struck by the oddity of the last one. It appeared to me that as Durrell approached the end of the project he found himself with all these ideas he hadn’t had the chance to use, so by fair means or foul he was going to find a way of not wasting them. This is not necessarily, however, a bad thing. I was reminded, reflecting on this idea, of an experience on holiday many years ago.
My wife and I were on holiday on the Island of Lewis. I decided that I was going to go off somewhere and sketch. As I was getting ready to go she asked if it might be possible for her to try drawing something too. So I left behind a sketch book and a box of pastels. When I returned the results of her efforts were interesting. She had begun with an attempt to draw the view of the loch from the cottage window, and had soon discovered that this was quite a difficult exercise. Looking at the box, however, she had been struck by the number of lovely colours it had not been possible to use …. principally the reds and oranges that had no place in the Scottish landscape. She then began a purely abstract design in which she tried to find a way of using these neglected colours, and the result was really rather pleasing. Reflecting on my reading of Durrell, this experience came into my mind.
“Using up the bits” left over can be a very worthwhile and creative thing to do. It is certainly possible in these circumstances to make discoveries, and to find a standard against which it is possible to measure the other elements for which places have been found in earlier efforts.