Mountolive: The Alexandria Quartet, Book 3

Mountolive is the third novel in the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. In the first novel,  Justine (1957) the narrator Darley, an Irish expatriate living and teaching in Alexandria, sets the stage for the innovative four volume work by describing his fascination with the ancient Egyptian city and his immersion into the complex social life of the Alexandrians. As a writer, he attempts to capture the essence of the city by chronicling the intricate and mysterious interactions of several characters living in the Mediterranean coastal city in pre-World War II Egypt. Justine is the flawed, sensual heart of her social group, married to and in love with Nessim, the eldest son of a wealthy Coptic Christian family who live on a vast ranch at the edge of the desert. As a Jew, she is forever excluded from true acceptance by Nessim's family and the culture of Alexandria. She is impulsively driven to find self -acceptance and identification with the essence of the life of the city. She searches desperately but unsuccessful to find meaning in life in Alexandria, that she conceptualizes as a small precise key to a beautiful and intricate pocket watch. The urgency is to find the key before age reduces her passion and youthful allure.The second novel,  Balthazar (1958) involves Darley's review of an interlinear (a book written in more than one language) sent to him by Balthazar a psychiatrist acquaintance who presents a more detailed view from multiple cultural sources of the social and political situation in Alexandria described in Justine. Important information not earlier available is supplied and the historical accuracy of events is supplemented by Balthazar's complex written psychoanalytic interpretation of Justine, Nessim, and other key players. The personalities of the characters are shown to be less fixed and more determined by interpersonal agendas and apparently random events in Alexandria than Darley presented in volume one of the quartet. Even with the structured focus on unconscious motivations of the characters and their defensive interactions, the essence of life in Alexandria seems chaotic and random.In the third novel, Mountolive (1959), Darley describes the career and psychological development of a British diplomat trained for a lifetime to maintain "good form" at all times. Part of his training as a young man involved early placement by the British High Commission in Alexandria as a sort of scribe to await his first diplomatic posting. At that time he had a letter of introduction to the Hosnani family, the Coptic Christian family owners of the ranch Darley introduced in the first novel, Justine. The reticent Mountolive came of age rapidly in his brief early experience placement and learned the value of maintaining a careful, conservative, British approach to people and diplomatic decision-making, his "stiff upper lip." With knowledge gained from this experience, Mountolive left Alexandria for many years occupying additional upwardly mobile posts in the British Empire between the World Wars. In the third novel of the Quartet, after years of training in diplomacy and obedience, he returns to Alexandria as British Ambassador to Egypt during the same time period described in Justine and Balthazar. He anticipates that finally he can make decisions on his own and exert a British structural influence on Egyption culture, politics, and the lives of characters he met during his first visit to Alexandria.Before long, Mountolive discovers that his concentration on maintaining good form in Egypt is only as attractive as his uniform and his ambassadorial presence in society has only minor effects on social and political situations. As World War II approaches, Coptic Christians become targets of Moslem discrimination, Justine finds her risky existential key, Nissim and Balthazar organize military support for a pro-Palestinian movement, a British staff member commits suicide, the Egyptian king dies, pro-Hitler sentiment increases, and Mountolive realizes he has important responsibilities without any power to influence events. The main characters develop a common belief that somewhere in the heart of experience there is order and coherence which we might surprise them if they are attentive enough, or patient enough. But they all ask themselves, will there be time? Will Mountolive seek a path of least resistance or will he persist in his largely ceremonial ambassador role? What will happen to the Hosnani family members and other social/political ties established by Mountolive. The novel shows the restrictions on individual free will even in an exotic city like Alexandria during a turbulent historical era and sets the stage for the concluding part of the Alexandria Quartet, Clea. I highly recommend Durrell's major literary accomplishment that influenced the direction of post-World War II literature. Looking at the same events from different perspectives (Justine-existential, Balthazar-psychoanalytic, Mountoloive-social/structural) Darley constructs a narrative that establishes in the reader a tolerance for ambiguity and an acceptance of the existential power of a fully conscious life.

Intelligent, witty, fantastic drama which draws much charm from the city itself, complete with intriguing subplots, and political overtones, it resolves some questions posed in the first two volumes of the quartet.

Published in 1959, _Mountolive_ is the third volume of the _Alexandria Quartet_. In his preface to _Balthazar_ (1958), the second novel, Durrell describes _Mountolive_ as “a straight naturalistic novel in which the narrator of _Justine_ and _Balthazar_ becomes and object, i.e. a character.” Indeed, Darley, the narrator of the first two novels, appears in _Mountolive_ as a character, but only briefly. I was expecting this novel to provide more insight into the narrator of the two previous ones from the perspective of David Mountolive, the diplomat who had been, until now, a secondary character. Instead, it is the diplomat himself who is the focus of this third novel, and so we take some distance from Justine, Melissa, Clea, and Darley, though not from the Hosnanis.What does Durrell mean when he calls this novel naturalistic? _Justine_ and _Balthazar_ are metafictional, the latter more so than the former. _Mountolive_ is much more traditional in its execution and narrative purpose, though it never becomes cliché or flat, thanks to Durrell’s powerful narrative voice. I would describe _Mountolive_ as a literary political thriller, in the vein of Graham Greene’s _The Quiet American_ (1955), though of a more introspective nature. _Mountolive_ portrays the ultimate loneliness and detachment of the diplomat, who “does not have true friends” and whose connections with others are inevitably ruined by his “political” worldview.As the novel begins, Mountolive is having an affair with Leila, Nessim and Narouz’s mother. Events soon separate them, but Mountolive continues to think of his lover in the midst of political intrigue and international conflict. The reader will recall Darley attempting to free himself from Justine and from Alexandria, in the first novel, by writing about them. Mountolive, however, is no writer. There is no “consequential data” at the end of this novel, no meditations on the craft of writing at any point. Mountolive is a mediocre figure, a hollow man who discovers by the end of the novel the devastating effects that time may have on human beings.I enjoyed _Mountolive_ slightly less than I did _Balthazar_. I’m partial to _Justine_, and look forward to _Clea_, which is said to be quite different from its predecessors. I’ve given four stars to _Mountolive_ (the same rating I gave to _Balthazar_) because I could not give it three and half, and a three-star rating seemed too harsh. This is an excellent novel; I simply miss Darley as a narrator and the self-reflexive nature of the first novels. The novel may be read as criticism or analysis of European involvement in the Middle East and/or North Africa, as it explores that distance that will always separate the colonizer from the colonized: no matter how much the two cultures flow into and out of each other, they never truly mix.For more on the _Alexandria Quartet_, please check out my reviews of _Justine_ and _Balthazar_.Next on my list, of course: _Clea_.Thanks for reading, and enjoy the book!

A classic exploration of human relationships demonstrating great faith in the human soul. Both subject matter and artistic technic break new artistic ground in the Alexandria Quartet.

I was given Mountolive by a friend. I have not read the other novels in the series.In general, I like British novels and novelists and I am fine with books that have difficult prose and make demands on the reader. But I was underwhelmed. The language was overwrought and overheated. While the prose was overheated the characters were underdeveloped. To me Mountolive came off as an oblivious British twit. Narouz was just a whip and a harelip. I found the plot not very interesting. The prose kept suggesting by its portentousness that fascinating, complex people were involved in matters of the utmost importance but underneath the surface of the fervid prose not much was happening as far as I could tell.I realize this goes against the weight of readerly (and critical) authority and I'm not proclaiming that I'm right and everyone else is wrong--far from it. This is just one reader's impression.

The saving grace here is that Lawrence Durrell was friends with Henry Miller, a real writer. The 19 volumes of the Alexandria Quartet should be required reading in insomnia workshops. They are too soporific and not sophomoric enough.

Having read these books by Lawrence Durrell forty years ago I wanted to see if they held the same magic I had discovered then. I started with Mountolive, I was not disappointed , the writer completely envelops the reader in his world and his descriptions of places and people come to life so clearly. I will continue to read the three remaining books in the "Quartet".

The best our of the four Alexandria books in my opinion. Beautifully written with so many wonderful poetic descriptions. Illuminates the rest of the quartet brilliantly.

Not as shown. Asked to return but have not had a response