Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence George Durrell (/ˈdʊərəl, ˈdʌr-/; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer.

For much of his life, Durrell resisted being identified solely as British, or as only affiliated with Britain, and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan. It has been suggested in recent years, since his death, that Durrell never had British citizenship, though more accurately, he became defined as a non-patrial in 1968, as a result of an amendment to the Commonwealth Immigrants Act. Hence, he was denied the normal citizenship right to enter or settle in Britain under the new laws, and had to apply for a visa for each entry.

His most famous work is the tetralogy The Alexandria Quartet, particularly the first of the quartet's four novels, Justine.

Life and work

Durrell was born in Jalandhar, British India, the eldest son of Indian-born British colonials Louisa and Lawrence Samuel Durrell. His first school was St. Joseph's College, North Point, Darjeeling. At the age of eleven, he was sent to England, where he briefly attended St. Olave's Grammar School before being sent to St. Edmund's School, Canterbury. His formal education was unsuccessful, and he failed his university entrance examinations, but he began seriously writing poetry at the age of fifteen, and his first collection of poetry, Quaint Fragments, was published in 1931.

Alejandría

Alejandría (Spanish for the name Alexandria) is a municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. Part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. Bordered to the north with the municipalities of Concepción, Santo Domingo and San Roque, on the east by the municipality of San Rafael, on the south by the municipalities of San Rafael and Guatapé, and on the west by the municipalities of El Penol and Concepción. Its capital is 90 kilometers from the city of Medellin, the capital of Antioquia department. The municipality has an area of 149 km ².

History

As is the case with much of eastern Antioquia, what is today Alejandria was originally inhabited by the Tahamí people.

Alejandria was founded by Don Alejandro Osorio, Mrs. Procesa Delgado, Don Salvador Cordoba and Mr. Climaco Jaramillo in 1886. By 1889 were erected the village to the township of the municipality category of Guatapé by agreement of February 20 that year.

Unlike what happened with almost all the municipalities of Antioquia, which were created by orders from departmental entities, the creation of Alejandria as a municipality was inititate by presidential decree from Bogota. President Reyes agreed to the requests, and by decree 304 of March 1907, created the town of Alejandria.