Justine (Durrell novel)
First UK edition
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| Author | Lawrence Durrell |
|---|---|
| Country | Great Britain |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Alexandria Quartet |
| Publisher |
Faber & Faber (UK) E. P. Dutton (US) |
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Publication date
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1957 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 253 p. (paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 257392229 |
| Followed by | Balthazar |
Justine, published in 1957, is the first volume in Lawrence Durrell's literary tetralogy, The Alexandria Quartet. The first in the tetralogy, Justine is one of four interlocking novels, each of which tells various aspects of a complex story of passion and deception from differing points of view. The quartet is set in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in the 1930s and 1940s, the city itself as described by Durrell becoming as much of a complex character as the human protagonists of the novels. Since first becoming available to the public and reviewers in 1957, Justine has inspired what has been called "an almost religious devotion among readers and critics alike." It was adapted into the film of the same name in 1969.
Justine is narrated by an impoverished Irishman, not named in this novel, but who is referred to as "Darley" in the later novels of the quartet. He is a struggling writer and schoolmaster, with a background and a number of personal experiences similar autobiographically to those of the author himself. From a remote Greek island, he retells his time in Alexandria and his tragic romance with Justine - a beautiful, rich, mysterious Jewish woman who is married to a wealthy Egyptian Copt, Nessim.
The scene for the story Durell's narrator tells is the dusty, modern Alexandria of the 1930s, "an exotic city of constant interactions between cultures and religions", and with a cultural milieu that mixes exceptional sophistication with equally remarkable sordidness. Justine is portrayed by Durell in a manner which 'mirrors' Alexandria in all of its complexities, with its mixture of elegance and extreme poverty, and its ancient Arab ways co-mingled with and modern European mores. Durrell's Alexandria is a city where Jews and Europeans exist alongside Muslims, and his characters, especially his lovely protagonist, she of the "somber brow-dark gaze," mirror the city. For Durell, his protagonist Justine is the essence of Alexandria, its "true child…neither Greek, Syrian, nor Egyptian, but a hybrid."
The character of Justine — who is portrayed by Durell as alluring, seductive, mournful, and prone to dark, cryptic pronouncements — has been described by critics as the centrifugal force of the novel. The narrator and Justine embark on a secretive, torrid love affair. As the adulterous lovers attempt to conceal their growing passions from Justine's husband Nessim, who is also a friend of the narrator, the resulting love triangle grows increasingly desperate and dangerous, with the narrator fearing at the book's climax that Nessim is trying to arrange to have him killed.
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