(Re)constructing Reality: Complexity in Lawrence Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet (Studies in Twentieth-Century British Literature)

Among the most brilliant fictional works of the twentieth century, Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet is at once a culmination of modernist literature and an exploration of the conscious construction of truth and reality. Structured to reflect Einstein’s relativity theory, the Alexandria Quartet is an intricate interweaving of linguistic resources. Using M. A. K. Halliday’s systemic linguistic theory of text analysis, (Re)constructing Reality probes the inner workings of Durrell’s masterpiece to bring us closer to an understanding of how meaning is created. In the process, this book provides insight into both the Alexandria Quartet itself, as well as into the linguistic nature of literary composition.