title: The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader
author:  Lawrence Durrell 
description: Durrell, a twentieth-century British writer admired by discriminating readers, was the author of the Alexandria Quartet, a novel cycle named for the alluring and mysterious Egyptian city in which it was set. He also traveled avidly and consequently established a reputation as a brilliant travel writer. Evidence is made concrete in this anthology, in which excerpts from Durrell's book-length travelogues are gathered with short pieces published independently. His particular love for the islands of the Mediterranean shines from its pages, and such passion impels travel literature to its fullest purpose: to stir the reader's imagination and longing. Durrell's fundamental philosophy about travel is declared, and the tone for this entire anthology is set, by the first piece, "Landscape and Character," a 1960 essay originally published in the <i>New York Times Magazine--</i>his sentiment codified as "human beings are expressions of their landscape, but in order to touch the secret springs of a national essence you need a few moments of quiet with yourself." Quiet time with this book is its own great reward. <i>Brad Hooper</i><br /><i>Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
zlib_text: PROLOGUE
  It was a quiet journey.
  There was no conversation—only the clattering of the wagon.
  They woke, they rattled around in the wagon, they ate—only that.
  Kraft Lawrence sat in the driver’s seat, gripping the reins. It was his
  seventh year as a traveling merchant since setting out at the age of
  eighteen.
  Loneliness was the constant companion of the traveling merchant,
  and he’d often found himself talking to his cart horse. There had been
  a time when these episodes were frequent. These last few days his
  quiet travels had continued, and he’d spoken no words worthy of the
  term.
  Yet if asked if he was lonely, Lawrence’s reply would have been
  negative, which was unmistakably thanks to his companion, who sat
  next to him in the driver’s box.
  Though she now had a blanket wrapped around herself so
  thoroughly that it was hard to tell if she was a boy or a girl, the
  beauty of her features would turn any head, and her long, chestnut-
  brown hair, fine enough to be the pride of any nobleman’s dau