Lawrence Durrell, Bitter Lemons

Grove Koger (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1957

Places

India, Punjab (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Guidebooks / Travel writing

Resources

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Bitter Lemons

is the product of Lawrence Durrell's final sojourn in the eastern Mediterranean, an eventful three years (1953-1956) spent on Cyprus. Although the island lies within sight of the southern coast of Asia Minor, its small Turkish population was and continues to be outnumbered by a large Greek majority. At one time or another part of the Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman empires, Cyprus had been a British territory since 1878.

Durrell had been employed by the British Council in Argentina and by the Foreign Office in Yugoslavia, but had found both countries stultifying. Cyprus promised a return to the passionate and vital Mediterranean world he had earlier experienced in Corfu and in Rhodes. It also promised freedom, for he had given up government employment

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1043 words

Citation: Koger, Grove. "Bitter Lemons". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6326, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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