Relativity and the theme of love in Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Ernest Carrington Hester (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Randolph Bulgin

Abstract: The Alexandria Quartet is based on the epistemological position that all knowledge is limited by the knower's position in time and space—a position which author Lawrence Durrell links with the Einsteinian theory of relativity. This epistemology influences the form of Durrell's novels. It also shapes his psychology, his characterization, and his treatment of the love theme. The first chapter of the paper treats the novelist's ideas on relativity and the novelistic form which he has derived from these ideas. The following chapter is concerned with Durrell's psychological position, which is a corollary of his relativistic epistemology. The chapter is concerned further with how his psychology shapes the characters who participate in the love relationships of the tetralogy. The first two chapters treat the effect of Durrell's philosophy upon his work, rather than treating the philosophy itself.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 1966
Subjects
Durrell, Lawrence $x Criticism and interpretation
Durrell, Lawrence. $t Alexandria quartet
Hardy, Thomas, $d 1840-1928. $t Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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