Customer Reviews

Caesar's vast ghost: Aspects of Provence

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Durrell's writing is always intriguing if you can fight your way through his obscure allusions and off-beat thinking, and this reminiscence of Provence (I imagine his last book - it ends with a goodbye) is typical: beautiful in the places where he stays grounded but prone to unintelligible flights of fancy. It covers the history and geography, bullfights and bowling games, chasms and conquerors, of the Languedoc area with an infectious personal passion, so it is inspiring as a travelog; but there are inaccuracies that that bar it from guide status. (He has Julius Caesar (about 90 BC to 40 BC) involved in colonizing Provence at 122 BC, and rescuing local statues in 65 AD.)

An enthralling browse, but expect to skip parts.

Durrell's long experience in the region allowed him to discuss many of the more obscure aspects of Provence and its history. It is part history, part memoir, part poetry.

The book should be read for its value as entertainment and to gain a sense of Provence & its history, but I do not feel that it would be a suitable source of accurate historical information. Upon furhter investigation of many events that Durrell talks about, I discovered that he presented only one side of a situation about which there is no current consensus or agreement among academics/historians.

Finally, I found the last chapter of the book quite bizarre, and admit that I got very little out of it.

Citing the above qualifications, I recommend this book for those interested in Provence (with the added bonus that Durrell's writing is a thing enjoyable in itself).