Hidden Buddhism in Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet
The talk discusses the way in which the Egyptian themes of Durrell’s masterwork are linked with elements taken from Far Eastern religious thought, in particular Buddhism. I shall focus on three main aspects: the way in which the theme of exile in the Quartet is bound up with Durrell’s own sense of exile from his “Tibetan childhood” in India, the referencing of Buddhist scriptures in the Quart...