Lawrence Durrell, The Avignon Quintet

Grove Koger (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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The five volumes of

The Avignon Quintet

appeared over a period of eleven years, from 1974 to 1985. Durrell had lived near Avignon since 1957, and for virtually the first time in his life found himself drawing upon a locale in which he still resided. The novels reflect the affection he had developed for Provence, but they also reflect a dark period in his life. His reputation had been in partial eclipse since the publication of

Tunc

(1968) and

Nunquam

(1970),

known jointly as

The Revolt of Aphrodite.

His third marriage had ended with the death of Claude-Marie Vincendon in 1967, and his fourth (to Ghislaine de Boysson, the dedicatee of the first volume of the

Quintet

) would last only two years. His health too was in decline.

Monsieur, or The Prince of Darkness (1974) introduces characters

1145 words

Citation: Koger, Grove. "The Avignon Quintet". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 December 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14340, accessed 19 March 2024.]

14340 The Avignon Quintet 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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