Panic Spring
First US edition
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| Author | Lawrence Durrell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher |
Faber and Faber (UK) Covici-Friede (US) |
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Publication date
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1937 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Preceded by | Pied Piper of Lovers |
| Followed by | The Black Book |
Panic Spring is a novel by Lawrence Durrell, published in 1937 by Faber and Faber in Britain and Covici-Friede in the United States under the pseudonym Charles Norden. It is set on a fictional Greek Island, Mavrodaphne, in the Ionian Sea somewhere between Patras, Kephalonia, and Ithaca. The island, however, resembles Corfu strongly, and in at least one inscribed copy of the novel, Durrell includes a map of Corfu identified as Mavrodaphne.
The novel progresses through multiple perspectives in the successive chapters, each focusing on a different character. As a whole, the novel shows Durrell's myriad influences of this period, ranging from Remy de Gourmont to Richard Aldington, D. H. Lawrence, and several Elizabethan writers.
The character Marlowe is stranded in Brindisi during political strife in Greece, and he is eventually conveyed to Mavrodaphne by the boatman Christ who serves Rumanades, a highly successful businessman who owns Mavrodaphne. He is a disillusioned schoolteacher akin to Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall. Shortly after arriving on the island, he meets Gordon and Walsh, both characters from Durrell's Pied Piper of Lovers.
In the third chapter, Rumanades' personal history is narrated, leading up through his display of fireworks on Mavrodaphne. This includes his capitalist successes and his acquisition of his fortune, as well as his failed marriage that his wealth could not control.
The fourth and fifth chapters have Marlowe moving into one of Rumanades' villas on the island and meeting the remaining characters, Francis and Fonvisin. The narrative then turns to Marlowe's interests in Quietism.
The subsequent chapters focus heavily on the individual characters in their own narratives: Walsh, Fonvisin, and Francis.
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