Provence

Durrel's Provence is saturated with the spirits of civilizations past. Durrell wanders through the countryside and the marketplace and among the people, listening to the echos of the battles of Roman generals like Caesar and Agrippa, the love of Petrarch for Laura, the debates of the medieval Courts of Love, and the lyrics of the troubadours. He relates the significance of ruins stewn across Provence, which for him was nothing less than the crucible where the European sensibility was forged, and he discusses such disparate topics as bull-worship, black magic, alchemy, the Provencal language, Buffalo Bill's friendship with the poet mistral, who was Provence's Nobel laureate, the beauty of Arlesian women, and the game of boules. This tour de force is a monument both to its author and to the region. It is a must for any traveler who seeks seriously to understand Provence.