Lawrence Durrell, The Revolt of Aphrodite

Grove Koger (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Lawrence Durrell published the first volume of the series that would eventually become known as

The Revolt of Aphrodite

in 1968. It had been eight years since he had completed the highly acclaimed novels that make up

The Alexandria Quartet,

and expectations were running high. Yet the work’s title –

Tunc

– puzzled (if not titillated, given its anagrammatical possibilities), and its tone – acerbic, satirical, crudely bawdy – disappointed those who expected more of the psychological depth or sometimes lush romanticism of the earlier works. As Durrell himself observed, his new novel did not even “pretend to pretend.”

The second and final volume, Nunquam, appeared two years later, but its plot, which mixed elements of science fiction and the gothic, was even more unrealistic than

1061 words

Citation: Koger, Grove. "The Revolt of Aphrodite". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 October 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13854, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13854 The Revolt of Aphrodite 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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