Whenever I pick up Gerald Durrells My Family and Other Animals, it’s like returning to a comfortable armchair. It’s because Durrell’s writing style is warm and easy. There are passages in this book that have had me crying with laughter. To me, it is extraordinary that a man who didn’t love writing (he wrote merely to fund his wildlife expeditions) could write so beautifully.
Gerald and Lawrence Durrell
Gerald’s elder brother, Lawrence, was a celebrated novelist. By the end of the 20th Century Lawrence had become one of the most significant writers in the English language at the time.
If we are to believe the dialogue in the Sid Gentle Films—Masterpiece co-production which serialised the Durrells’ years on Corfu, Lawrence recognised and encouraged his brother’s literary talent when Gerald was only thirteen. The reasoning was that since Lawrence was earning money from writing, surely Gerald could too. His earnings could fund his wildlife acquisitions.
Gerald’s writing style
In My Family and Other Animals, one can’t help but see shades of Dylan Thomas (who died in 1953, three years before Durrell’s biography was published) in the first sentence of Chapter Ten.
“Spring merged slowly into the long, hot, sun-sharp days of summer sung in by cicadas, shrill and excited, making the island vibrate with their cries”.
For me, this sentence easily evokes an impression of the lazy days of Durrell’s Corfu childhood home. Dylan Thomas had been the master of alliteration and lilting syntax in this way when describing life in the Welsh villages of his homeland. It wasn’t hard for me to see the similarity.
An idyllic existence on the island of Corfu
While on Corfu, Louisa Durrell made several attempts to have her youngest son educated. Gerald resisted, however. He saw no sense in mathematics or English composition when abundant creatures existed at his very doorstep to be studied.
Dr Theodore Stephanides
It was fortuitous for Gerald that, on Corfu, he was introduced to Dr Theodore Stephanides, a Greek poet, author, doctor, and naturalist. Gerald wrote
“…he was the only person I had met who seemed to share my enthusiasm for zoology. Secondly, I was extremely flattered to find that he treated me and talked to me exactly as though I was his own age…as though I was as knowledgeable as he was.”
Theo’s delightful interaction with Gerald features throughout this biography. Gerald later cited that he would have amounted to nothing without Theo’s mentorship. That is debatable, of course. Gerald was such a passionate naturalist. I think his work would have been significant regardless. Nevertheless, the importance of Theo’s influence cannot be disputed.
The menagerie
Gerald’s reminiscences of his friendship with his dog, Roger, are delightful, his descriptions of the olive groves and seaside coves teeming with fauna are comprehensive and enticing.
His accounts of raising and studying various creatures including scorpions, trapdoor spiders, turtles and a Scops Owl are captivating and his humorous recollections of the daily exploits of his intelligent, eccentric, very English family (despite none being born or living in England before WWII) are engaging.
In My Family and Other Animals, the reader is treated to a winner of a yarn.