The politics of love, the intrigues of desireÊÉ love and murder, moved obscurely in the dark corners of AlexandriaÕs streets and squares, brothels and drawing-roomsÊÐ moved like a great congress of eels in the slime of plot and counter-plotÉÕ In Balthazar, the second volume in DurrellÕs Alexandria Quartet, the story and the characters come more clearly into focus. Darley, the reflective Englishman, receives from Balthazar, the pathologist, a mass of notes which attempt to explain what really happened between the tempestuous Justine, her husband Nessim, Clea the artist, Pursewarden the writer; new figures emerge and play key roles. Balthazar, in his ÔInterlinearÕ, explains and warns.
The politics of love, the intrigues of desireÊÉ love and murder, moved obscurely in the dark corners of AlexandriaÕs streets and squares, brothels and drawing-roomsÊÐ moved like a great congress of eels in the slime of plot and counter-plotÉÕ In Balthazar, the second volume in DurrellÕs Alexandri...