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3.0 out of 5 stars
Either Then or Never, Jun 12 2003
"Nunquam" forwards the action of "Tunc," with Felix still struggling to free himself from the Firm, this time by building an android of the dead Iolanthe for Julian. Like this synopsis, "Nunquam" doesn't make a whole lot of sense without the first novel already under your belt. I found this story duller than "Tunc"--the settings are less fantanstical and the plot even more perfunctory--but it makes the ideas Durrell wanted to get across in the series much clearer.The all-controlling Firm is revealed as a symbol of our cultural, even genetic, programming: Felix's atempts to get free of it by running or fighting back are futile. Freedom comes, if at all, by understanding the inner psychological mechanisms at its heart. In Julian's case, this takes the form of the desire to resurrect and control Iolanthe. All the doubles from "Tunc" make better sense in "Nunquam," where Durrell explains the male/female binary--sexual and emotional love--as the only true foundation for a culture, and the one alternative to the contractual relations of possession & control that drive modern capitalist technology. Very '60s in a way--sex will set us free--but also oddly conservative in the idea that we surmount the problem of a corrupt culture through new forms of beauty and personal relations. What weakens this argument, if I understand it right, is that Durrell's sympathies seem much more with the lonely, impotent Julian, anxious to bring his dream woman to life, than with Felix & Benedicta, whose new-found love is totally unconvincing as they become willing bystanders to Julian's personal drama. The "Alexandria Quartet" will probaly remain Durrell's best claim to fame, but I had a few fun evenings with this book and I bet you will too. On to the Avignon Quintet!!
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