Balthazar

Lawrence Durrell

Dutton, 1958 - Fiction - 250 pages

Justine is the first volume in The Alexandria quartet, four interlinked novels set in the sensuous, hot environment of Alexandria just before the Second World War. Within this polyglot setting of richly idiosyncratic characters is Justine, wild and intense, wife to the wealthy business man Nessim, a mari complaisant. Her emotional and sexual wildness fuels a highly-charged atmosphere which, caught famously by Durrell's poetic language, made Justine (1957), and the three novels that complete the Quartet - Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1958), and Clea (1960) both a critical and a popular success.

Contents

• Section 1: 8
• Section 2: 9
• Section 3: 10

About the author

Lawrence Durrell was born on February 27, 1912 in Jullundur, India to British parents. During World War II, he served as a British press officer. His first novel, Pied Piper of Lovers, was published in 1935, but was considered a failure. Some of his other works include The Black Book, The Alexandria Quartet, The Avignon Quintet, and Caesar's Vast Ghost: A Portrait of Provence. Bitter Lemons won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1959. He died on November 7, 1990 at the age of 78.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Balthazar; Part 81 of A Dutton paperback; Volume 2 of Alexandria quartet, Lawrence Durrell; The Alexandria Quartet: Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive, Clea, Lawrence Durrell
• Author: Lawrence Durrell
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Dutton, 1958
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Mar 6, 2008
• ISBN: 0525470816, 9780525470816
• Length: 250 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Romance / General