About this series
Titles in the series (6)
- The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian, and Quinx
From the visionary author of the Alexandria Quartet comes a landmark five-part series hailed by the Sunday Times as “one of the great novels of our time.” One of the most celebrated English writers ever, Lawrence Durrell was a bestselling author whose vivid metafictions pushed the boundaries of modern literature. The cosmopolitan provocateur transcended borders, ideologies, and time in his work, and he’s at the height of his powers in the Avignon Quintet. More formally daring than the Alexandria Quartet, these sweeping and stylish novels set before, during, and after World War II loosely center on the race to uncover a treasure buried by the Knights Templar. Each reveals a seemingly disparate piece of the puzzle. In Monsieur, it’s the bittersweet return to southern France by a British doctor; in Livia, it’s two sisters driven apart by the rise of Nazism in Europe. In Constance, a Freudian analyst struggles for clarity in a world on fire; in Sebastian, she reconnects with the charismatic cult leader she knew in the deserts of Egypt. And in Quinx, long-buried plots reemerge as the past and future are funneled into the present. Durrell himself described the Avignon Quintet as a “quincunx,” a series of novels “roped together like climbers on a rockface, but all independent.” Together they form a powerful meditation on the search for meaning in a world of chaos and brutality.
- Monsieur: Or, The Prince of Darkness
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.
- Constance: Or, Solitary Practices
With the Second World War in full fury, Constance must explore the psyche of a mad world in order to save herself and those closest to her in the third volume of the Avignon Quintet. Durrell’s beautiful Avignon Quintet continues with this harrowing, tumultuous installment. Here the protagonist is Constance, a psychoanalyst and mystic struggling for clarity in a world on fire with war, hatred, and inexplicable brutality. Her quest for sanity takes her through the deserts of Egypt (and into the arms of the leader of a suicide cult), through war-ravaged Poland, and finally into ancient Avignon. In the fields of southern France, Constance sees a religious historical drama come to a close—a mysterious narrative that began with the Knights Templar and ends with Hitler’s mad grab for power.
- Livia: Or, Buried Alive
At the dawn of World War II, Livia and her sister Constance commit themselves to separate sides of a historic struggle in the second volume of the Avignon Quintet. The second book of Durrell’s inventive and inspiring Avignon Quintet, Livia follows the currents of longing and regret, and the shifting illusions of memory, that began in Monsieur. Two sisters, Livia and Constance, have already led remarkable lives as scholars, lovers of artists, and seekers of the forbidden wisdom of Gnostic sages. As Europe is shaken by the rise of fascism, the two sisters find themselves driven apart by shifting alliances. Livia is rich with Durrell’s unmistakable, gorgeous prose and breathtaking insights into love and the idiosyncrasies of the human heart.
- Quinx: Or, The Ripper's Tale
In the final volume of a quintet, a hunt for ancient treasure in southern France lays bare the flawed philosophies that animated the Second World War. Just after World War II, a motley assortment of treasure hunters, mystics, psychoanalysts, and former Nazis race to uncover a treasure buried centuries before by the Knights Templar. Durrell displays his diabolical playfulness and immense imagination as his characters meet and become entangled, long-buried plots reemerge, and the past and future are funneled into the present action. Here the music of the Alexandria Quintetresolves as a symphony, and the series as a whole emerges as a worthy and enduring entry to Durrell’s distinguished career.
- Sebastian: Or, Ruling Passions
With Europe reduced to rubble after the Second World War, Constance must seek knowledge beyond the modern in order to heal her patients—and herself. In Durrell’s fourth installment of the Avignon Quintet, Constance returns to Europe after the end of World War II. A Freudian analyst, she treats the shell-shocked, the battle-fatigued, and other despairing survivors in Geneva. She also treats the traumatized, autistic son of her former lover, Sebastian—a situation that draws her back into the mysterious cult that the sensitive and charismatic Sebastian led in the deserts of Egypt. In Sebastian, Constance’s pursuit of wisdom in the midst of Europe’s blackest night is rendered as a gorgeous and heartbreaking quest for truth in a world full of illusion.
Lawrence Durrell
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.
Read more from Lawrence Durrell
Bitter Lemons of Cyprus: Life on a Mediterranean Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Judith: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Eagles Over Serbia: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prospero's Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corfu Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Sicilian Carousel: Adventures on an Italian Island Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Blue Thirst: Tales of Life Abroad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diplomatic Adventures: Esprit de Corps, Stiff Upper Lip, and Sauve Qui Peut Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStiff Upper Lip: Life Among the Diplomats Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Black Book: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Smile in the Mind's Eye: An Adventure into Zen Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reflections on a Marine Venus: A Companion to the Landscape of Rhodes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lawrence Durrell's Notes on Travel Volume One: Blue Thirst, Sicilian Carousel, and Bitter Lemons of Cyprus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lawrence Durrell's Notes on Travel Volume Two: Prospero's Cell, Reflections on a Marine Venus, and Spirit of Place Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEsprit de Corps: Sketches from Diplomatic Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Labyrinth: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From the Elephant's Back: Collected Essays & Travel Writings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sauve Qui Peut: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best of Antrobus: Tales of Diplomatic Misadventure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From the Elephant's Back: Collected Essays & Travel Writings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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