THE CARNIVAL IN LAWRENCE DURRELL’S 'THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET': REALITY, IMAGINATION, MADNESS
THE CARNIVAL IN LAWRENCE DURRELL’S 'THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET': REALITY, IMAGINATION, MADNESS

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the carnival in Lawrence Durrell’s novel 'The Alexandria Quartet', with a focus on how reality, imagination and madness make their presence felt and interact in this context. Starting from a presentation of the main features of the carnival as they appear in Mikhail Bakhtin’s works, and from Durrell’s sources of inspiration for the city, it goes on to analyse the Alexandrian carnival as described by Durrell and by his character-narrator Darley. The people’s manifestations in this period, the tricks played on the characters by their imagination and their eccentric behaviour are discussed in detail.

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