Faber Books – Part 2 – Lawrence Durrell, Ellen Gilchrist, William Golding, Nikolas Kazantzakis

To continue with Faber books, and Lawrence Durrell first of all…

I cannot claim to have read either Bitter Lemons or Tunc, or maybe I have, in the dim distant past, but here are the old Faber editions of the books in question, editions published respectively in mcmlix (1960) and 1969.

Two books from Durrell’s humorous stories of the diplomatic service, Stiff Upper Lip & Esprit de Corps, very funny books indeed!

Next Ellen Gilchrist, a wonderful American novelist and short story writer from the southern state of Mississippi. Her collection In The Land of Dreamy Dreams, which I have in a first edition hardcover, was my introduction to her fiction. It introduces the character of Rhoda Manning who featured in many of her short stories. But as I am showing only paperback Faber publications, I’ll get to that book later.

The Annunciation (1983) was her first published novel and Net of Jewells was published in 1992.

Victory Over Japan is another collection of short stories, won the National Book Award in 1984, and is quite marvellous from what I can recall.

William Golding is famous for his novel Lord of the Flies, which I have in a Penguin Modern Classic. The Scorpion God is a lesser known work, that no doubt I read way back in the past, and is set in Ancient Egypt.

Finally for this entry, two novels by Nikos Kazantzakis, well known for his novel Zorba The Greek that was made into an immensely popular film in the early 1960s and thus thrust him into the spotlight. I have only two of his novels, Zorba The Greek, of course, and Christ Crucified.

The last of the Faber books will be posted shortly and include works by Garrison Keillor and Charles Williams.