Quotes from work
The Avignon Quintet

The Avignon Quintet

The Avignon Quintet is a five-volume series of novels by British writer Lawrence Durrell, published between 1974 and 1985. The novels are metafictional. He uses developments in experimental fiction that followed his The Alexandria Quartet . The action of the novels is set before and during World War II, largely in France, Egypt, and Switzerland.


Lawrence Durrell photo

“An idea is like a rare bird which cannot be seen. What one sees is the trembling of the branch it has just left.”

The Avignon Quintet (1974–1985), Monsieur (1974)
Context: The art of prose governed by syncopated thinking; for thoughts curdle in the heart if not expressed. An idea is like a rare bird which cannot be seen. What one sees is the trembling of the branch it has just left.

Lawrence Durrell photo

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