ANGL 4850-01 Prospectus Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet Professor Paul M. Curtis, 858-4250 (messages), [email protected] Monday 12 :00-13 :15, Wednesday 10 :00-11 :15, 170 Pavillon Jacqueline-Bouchard Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday afternoons, by appointment
Welcome to the English Department’s Special Topics course for the academic year 2012- 2013. In recognition and in celebration of the centenary of Lawrence Durrell’s birth, we will read what is considered to be his most successful work, the four novels that comprise his Alexandria Quartet: Justine (1957), Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1958) and Clea (1960). Although the four novels appeared in quick succession, their gestation period was about 15 years; and, taken together, the Quartet represents a major event in Durrell’s progression as an artist from his previous novel The Black Book (1938). Sensitive to theories of psychology as well as relativity, the first three novels tell very different stories even though they make use of the same materials of plot and character. The significance of all depends upon narrative perspective, it would seem. Only the fourth novel, Clea, extends the series into a future time of plot, setting and character. Our job will be to read the Quartet as intensively as possible and to try – depending upon the interests of the class – to apply various theories of interpretation. We will conclude the class with a reading of Durrell’s Monsieur, or the Prince of Darkness, his first novel in the series of five that goes by the name The Quincunx, or The Avignon Quintet. A bibliography, a syllabus as well as a list of topics will be circulated the first meeting, Monday, 10 September.
Required Texts:
Lawrence Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet, (any four-volume edition, in print, online, or in the bookstore) Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, or the Prince of Darkness, (any single-volume edition, etc.)
Method:
READING & DISCUSSION. Each student will receive an itinerary for each meeting. As we proceed, I will try to avoid formal lectures as much as possible. Come to each class with at least one question to ask of all.
Course Requirements and Evaluation:
The students will be required to submit a one-page essay (no more, no less) once each week. Each essay will isolate and debate the significance of one feature of the novel under discussion, and the feature (rhetorical, metaphorical, symbolic, etc.) will be of each student’s choosing. The students will submit one final research paper (during the final examination period) of at least 12 pages (excluding bibliography) on the topic of their choice, determined after consultation. No final exam.