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Monsieur: Or, The Prince of Darkness (The Avignon Quintet) Kindle Edition

by Lawrence Durrell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
2.7 2.7 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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From the olive trees of southern France to Gnostic cults in Egypt, a man and his lovers are invented and reinvented in this first volume of a great literary adventure. For British doctor Bruce Drexel, a return to Provence is bittersweet. Here, at a rustic chateau, he once fell in love with Sylvie, the Frenchwoman who would become his wife, and befriended her brother, Piers. The three made up a peculiar, potent ménage for years until Sylvie’s descent into madness and Piers’s suicide. As Drexel attends to Piers’s affairs, he becomes steeped in the memories of a spiritually transformational trip to Egypt; the band of intellectual confederates who used to be his intimate friends; and a three-sided love that became his reason for being. So begins Monsieur, the masterful first entry of Durrell’s Avignon Quintet, an infinite regress of memory and imagination that challenges the formal conventions of fiction. 
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  1. Book 1 of 5
    The Avignon Quintet
  2. Print length
    320 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  6. Publication date
    June 12, 2012
  7. File size
    4057 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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From the Publisher

Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence Durrell

Nancy and Lawrence Durrell

A Page from Durrell's Notebook

Lawrence Durrell aboard his Boat

This photograph of Lawrence Durrell aboard his boat, the Van Norden, is taken from a negative discovered among his papers. The vessel is named after a character in Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. (Photograph held in the British Library’s modern manuscripts collection.)

Nancy and Lawrence Durrell

This photograph of Nancy and Lawrence Durrell was likely taken in Delphi, Greece, in late 1939. (Photo courtesy of Joanna Hodgkin and the Gerald Durrell Estate.)

A page from Durrell’s Notebook

A page from Durrell’s notebooks, or, as he called them, the 'quarry.' This page introduced his notes on the 'colour and narrative' of scenes in Justine. (Photo courtesy of the Lawrence Durrell Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Monsieur contains some of the finest descriptive set-pieces even Durrell has ever written.” —The Times “Durrell at his best.” —The Atlantic 

About the Author

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.  

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0085IMXFE
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (June 12, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 12, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4057 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    2.7 2.7 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

About the author

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Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence Durrell

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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.

Customer reviews

2.7 out of 5 stars
2.7 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

clint worstman
1.0 out of 5 stars I read it to the end. Durrell owes me big time!
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014
Verified Purchase
I gave it one star because that is the step to arrive at the review section. Do not waste your time. It is dated in every aspect. If you need a Durrell jolt retread "The Alexandria Quartet."
6 people found this helpful
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Roddy Potter
3.0 out of 5 stars I loved Durrell's writing when I was in college
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2017
Verified Purchase
I loved Durrell's writing when I was in college. I picked this up on a whim and found that his prose was simply too overheated and purple for me now. Best left to the young.
4 people found this helpful
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Martha Coyne
4.0 out of 5 stars Review of Monsieur by Lawrence Durrell
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
Not recommended for everyone. I have read and re-read the Alexandria Quartet but had never read the Avignon stories. I have read just this one so far -- it is kind of hard to keep straight who is "talking" so I kept going back and forth. I may get up enough stamina to read the rest of the series.
6 people found this helpful
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Sonia Greenbaum
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2014
Verified Purchase
Didn't care for it. Overwritten, precious, uninvolving. Sometimes being stylish doesn't cut it.
4 people found this helpful
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Rosemary G. Messick
2.0 out of 5 stars ... only if you are a Durell fan and get enjoyment from just reading his elegant prose
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2014
Read only if you are a Durell fan and get enjoyment from just reading his elegant prose. If you do not read French. . .you lose! The multi-perspective technique in this quartet does not work as well as in the Alexandria. . .or, maybe, once was enough. . .
5 people found this helpful
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