Justine (novel)
Encyclopedia
Justine, published in 1957, is the first volume in Lawrence Durrell
's Alexandria Quartet. Justine is one of four interlocking novels which each tell various aspects of a complex story of passion and deception from various points of view. The quartet is set in the Egyptian city of Alexandria
of the 1930s and 1940s, and the city itself becomes as much of a complex character as the human protagonists.
Justine is narrated by an Englishman, who is not named in this novel, but is referred to as "Darley" in the later novels of the quartet. He is a struggling writer and schoolmaster. From a remote Greek island, he retells his time in Alexandria and his tragic romance with Justine - a beautiful, rich, mysterious Jewish woman who is married to a wealthy Egyptian Copt
, Nessim. The narrator and Justine embark on a love affair, and as they try to conceal their growing passion from Nessim, the narrator's friend, the love triangle grows increasingly desperate and dangerous.
novelist Pursewarden; the tubercular Greek prostitute Melissa; the Greek broker Capodistria; and the cross-dressing transvestite Scobie.
Though tragic love is the central concern of the novel, there are also hints at a deeper symbolic dimension in the form of the Kabbalah, which the main characters all devoutly study. There are also hints at a more extended socio-political narrative touching on the ineptness of the British secret service, which takes centre-stage in the next two books, "Balthazar
" and especially "Mountolive
".
, and Justine introduced Cavafy to a wide new audience in the English-speaking world. Two Cavafy poems, "The City"
and "The God Abandons Antony
", are translated by Durrell and included as "workpoints" in the appendix, implying that the poems have something to say about the narrator and his plight.
Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...
's Alexandria Quartet. Justine is one of four interlocking novels which each tell various aspects of a complex story of passion and deception from various points of view. The quartet is set in the Egyptian city of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
of the 1930s and 1940s, and the city itself becomes as much of a complex character as the human protagonists.
Justine is narrated by an Englishman, who is not named in this novel, but is referred to as "Darley" in the later novels of the quartet. He is a struggling writer and schoolmaster. From a remote Greek island, he retells his time in Alexandria and his tragic romance with Justine - a beautiful, rich, mysterious Jewish woman who is married to a wealthy Egyptian Copt
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
, Nessim. The narrator and Justine embark on a love affair, and as they try to conceal their growing passion from Nessim, the narrator's friend, the love triangle grows increasingly desperate and dangerous.
Style and Characters
The novel is an experimental work of fiction in terms of structure and style. There are no specific references to dates, although the reader may construct a rough chronology in retrospect. However, this is problematic because the narrative moves back and forth in time, often without explicit transitions. Durrell utilizes a highly poetic, allusive, and indirect prose style, similar to the "epiphanies" of James Joyce, which places more emphasis on the lyrical dimension of the novel. Durrell's narrator explains that it is important to him to describe events not "in the order in which they took place — for that is history — but in the order in which they first became significant for me". Although the "chief protagonist" of the novel appears to be the eponymous Justine, Durrell builds the structure of the work around the conceit that the city, Alexandria, is the most important player; nevertheless, many colorful and fully drawn characters abound: the minor French consular official Gaston Pombal, with whom the Narrator shares lodgings; the Idealized-but-Feared DoppelgängerDoppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
novelist Pursewarden; the tubercular Greek prostitute Melissa; the Greek broker Capodistria; and the cross-dressing transvestite Scobie.
Though tragic love is the central concern of the novel, there are also hints at a deeper symbolic dimension in the form of the Kabbalah, which the main characters all devoutly study. There are also hints at a more extended socio-political narrative touching on the ineptness of the British secret service, which takes centre-stage in the next two books, "Balthazar
Balthazar (novel)
Balthazar, published in 1958, is the second volume in the The Alexandria Quartet series by British author Lawrence Durrell. Set in Alexandria, Egypt around WWII, the four novels tell essentially the same story from different points of view and come to a conclusion in Clea...
" and especially "Mountolive
Mountolive
Mountolive, published in 1958, is the third volume in the The Alexandria Quartet series by British author Lawrence Durrell. Set in Alexandria, Egypt around World War II, the four novels tell essentially the same story from different points of view and come to a conclusion in Clea. Mountolive is the...
".
Cavafy
Durrell makes many references to the Greek Alexandrian poet Constantin CavafyConstantine P. Cavafy
Constantine P. Cavafy, also known as Konstantin or Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, or Kavaphes was a renowned Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant...
, and Justine introduced Cavafy to a wide new audience in the English-speaking world. Two Cavafy poems, "The City"
The City (poem)
The City is an 1894 poem by Constantin Cavafy. Originally written in Greek, an English translation appears in the appendix of the Lawrence Durrell novel Justine ; Cavafy is a character in the work. The narrator of Justine refers to his translation of the poem "The City" as "by no means literal" ....
and "The God Abandons Antony
The God Abandons Antony
"The God Abandons Antony" is a poem by Constantine P. Cavafy, published in 1911. The poem refers to Plutarch's story of how Antony, besieged in Alexandria by Octavian, heard the sounds of instruments and voices of a procession making its way through the city, then passing out; the god Bacchus ,...
", are translated by Durrell and included as "workpoints" in the appendix, implying that the poems have something to say about the narrator and his plight.
External links
- Penguin Reading Guides
- The International Lawrence Durrell Society Official website of ILDS
- Durrell 2012: The Lawrence Durrell Centenary Centenary event website and Durrell Journal
- The Durrell School of Corfu School dedicated to the works and lives Lawrence and Gerald Durrell
Further reading
- Haag, Michael. Alexandria: City of Memory. London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.