Travel Blog

The great novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell was born on this day in Jalandhar, India, in 1912.

Most famous for The Alexandria Quartet, Durrell employed his exceptional talents for evoking the spirit of a place in numerous travel books, including the collection Spirit of Place. His great love was the Mediterranean, especially Greece. He grew up on Corfu, which he wrote about in Prospero's Cell. His brother Gerald wrote his own, more popular, book about the island, My Family and Other Animals.

In subsequent travel books - Reflections on a Marine Venus (Rhodes), Bitter Lemons (Cyprus)- Durrell elevated the art of travel writing. For one, he brought great learning to the task, not only speaking the language but possessing a deep knowledge of the history and mythology. Also, rather than passing through - like traditional travel writers - he lived in each place, intimately getting to know the people and the politics and the gossip and the rhythms. You read his books to be entertained, to marvel at the language and the erudition, and to learn about the world. One essay on Provence from Spirit of Place will give you more than Peter Mayle's entire oeuvre.