First Published:
London, Faber & Faber, Ltd., 1980 (First UK Edition)
Also Published:
New York, Viking Penguin, 1960 (First US Edition)
The
final incarnation of the Collected Poems is the most complete
available, and must be considered definitive by afficianados
of Durrell's poetry. Including the rarest of Durrell's early
work through his final volumes in the early to mid 1970s, Brigham's
work strives gloriously for completeness, and as a result is
an unquestioned bonus. While it does not include verse appearing
solely in the novels, or any of the content of the three verse
plays, it does reproduce everything else, from the very earliest
privately printed volumes, including Quaint Fragment,
Ballade of Slow Decay, and Mass for the Old Year,
three otherwise rare volumes of the early to mid-1930s. Continuing
on through The Red Limbo Lingo, Vega and other poems,
it ends with verses which appear solely in the Collected Poems,
1931-1974, rounding out the history of Durrell, the poet. While
the novels and travel writings would continue for another fifteen
years, no further poems were ever published.
The
final incarnation of the Collected Poems is the most complete
available, and must be considered definitive by afficianados
of Durrell's poetry. Including the rarest of Durrell's early
work through his final volumes in the early to mid 1970s, Brigham's
work strives gloriously for completeness, and as a result is
an unquestioned bonus. While it does not include verse appearing
solely in the novels, or any of the content of the three verse
plays, it does reproduce everything else, from the very earliest
privately printed volumes, including Quaint Fragment,
Ballade of Slow Decay, and Mass for the Old Year,
three otherwise rare volumes of the early to mid-1930s. Continuing
on through The Red Limbo Lingo, Vega and other poems,
it ends with verses which appear solely in the Collected Poems,
1931-1974, rounding out the history of Durrell, the poet. While
the novels and travel writings would continue for another fifteen
years, no further poems were ever published.