CORFU, Greece: Michael Haag on Finding the Durrells

Larry and Gerry and Me: Michael Haag on Finding the Durrells


"At the end of The Durrells of Corfu I invite readers to seat themselves at the taverna built alongside the White House at Kalami along the northeast coast of Corfu with beautiful views across the straits towards Albania".

Michael Haag is now writing a new biography of Lawrence Durrell for Yale University Press.
In my view, he is unlikely to improve on the biography by Ian S. MacNiven. Perhaps Yale University Press had in mind this comment by Miranda Seymour (NYT, September 13, 1998), in her review of the MacNiven biography -

"We are unlikely to be given a more thorough biography. Rich in anecdote, magisterial in scope, it supersedes an earlier life by Gordon Bowker. What is needed now is a livelier, less respectful assessment of the man and his work. Was Durrell, as Henry Miller once wrote, ''a stinking genius''? Or should we put the novels away and enjoy a handful of memorable poems and three marvelous travel books about Greek islands? Ian MacNiven's biography raises the question while offering no final judgement".

Three Women Written Out of the Durrells' Corfu Story