Darrell Jackie family relationships. Darrell in Russia

Biography

He was the fourth and most youngest child in the family of British civil engineer Lawrence Samuel Durrell and his wife Louise Florence Durrell (née Dixie). According to relatives, already at the age of two, Gerald fell ill with "zoomania", and his mother recalled that one of his first words was "zoo" (zoo).

Gerald Durrell's early home teachers had few real educators. The only exception was the naturalist Theodore Stephanides (-). It was from him that Gerald received his first systematic knowledge of zoology. Stephanides appears more than once on the pages of the famous book Gerald Durrell's novel My Family and Other Animals. The books “Birds, Beasts and Relatives” () and “Amateur Naturalist” () are dedicated to him.

Familiar places evoked a lot of childhood memories - this is how the famous "Greek" trilogy appeared: "My family and other animals"(1956)," Birds, animals and relatives"(1969) and" Garden of the gods"(1978). The first book in the trilogy was a wild success. Only in the UK "My Family and Other Animals" was reprinted 30 times, in the US - 20 times.

In total, Gerald Durrell wrote more than 30 books (almost all of them were translated into dozens of languages) and made 35 films. The debut four-episode TV movie "To Bafut With Beagles" ("To Bafut With Beagles", BBC), released in 1958, was very popular in England. Thirty years later, Darrell managed to shoot in the Soviet Union, with active participation and assistance from the Soviet side. The result was the thirteen-episode film Durrell in Russia (also shown on the first television channel of the USSR in 1986-1988) and the book Durrell in Russia (not officially translated into Russian). In the USSR, Darrell's books were printed repeatedly and in large print runs.

Darrell's main idea was to breed rare and endangered species of animals in a zoo in order to further resettle them in their natural habitats. This idea has now become an accepted scientific concept. If not for the Jersey Foundation, many species of animals would be preserved only as stuffed animals in museums. Thanks to the Foundation, the pink dove, Mauritian kestrel, golden lion marmoset and marmoset monkeys, Australian corroboree frog, Madagascar tortoise and many other species have been saved from extinction.

Gerald Durrell died on January 30, 1995 from blood poisoning, nine months after a liver transplant, at the age of 71.

Durrell's major expeditions

Major literary works

In total, 37 books were written by Gerald Durrell. Of these, 28 have been translated into Russian.

• - "Overloaded Ark" (The Overloaded Ark)
• - "Three tickets to Adventure" (Three Singles To Adventure)
• - " The Bafut Beagles" (The Bafut Beagles)
• - " New Noah»(The new Noah)
• - “Under the canopy of a drunken forest" (The Drunken Forest)
• - " My family and other animals"(My Family and Other Animals)
• - "Encounters with Animals" / "Around the World" (Encounters with Animals)
• - " A zoo in my luggage» (A Zoo in My Luggage)
• - " Zoos"(Look At Zoos)
• - "Land of rustles" (The Whispering Land)
• - Menagerie Manor
• - "The Way of the Kangaroo" / "Two in the Bush" (Two in The Bush)
• - " Oslokrady"(The Donkey Rustlers)
• - "Rosy Is My Relative" (Rosy Is My Relative)
• - "Birds, Beasts And Relatives" (Birds, Beasts And Relatives)
• - Halibut Fillet / Flounder Fillet (Fillets of Plaice)
• - "Catch me a colobus" (Catch Me A Colobus)
• - "Beasts in my life" (Beasts in my Belfry)
• - " Talking package»(The Talking Parcel)
• - "The Ark on the Island" (The Stationary Ark)
• - "Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons" (Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons)
• - "Garden of the Gods" (The Garden of the Gods)
• - "Picnic and other outrages" (The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium)
• - " Mockingbird»(The mockery bird)
• - "Amateur Naturalist" (The Amateur Naturalist) was not translated into Russian
• - "Ark on the move" (Ark on the Move) was not translated into Russian
• - " Naturalist at gunpoint"(How to Shoot an Amateur Naturalist)
• - "Durrell in Russia" (Durrell in Russia) was not officially translated into Russian (there is an amateur translation)
• - "The Ark's Anniversary" (The Ark's Anniversary)
• - "Marrying Off Mother" (Marrying Off Mother)
• - "Aye-aye and I" (The Aye-aye and I)

Awards and prizes

• 1956 - Member of the International Institute of Arts and Letters
• 1974 - Member of the Institute of Biology in London
• 1976 - Honorary Diploma of the Argentine Society for the Protection of Animals
• 1977 - Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Yale University
• 1981 - Officer of the Order of the Golden Ark
• 1988 - Honorary Doctor of Science degree, Emeritus Professor at the University of Durham
• 1988 - Richard Hooper Day Medal - Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
• 1989 - Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Kent, Canterbury

• March 26, 1999 - On its 40th anniversary, the Jersey Zoo, established by Gerald Durrell, is renamed the Darrell Wildlife Park, and the Jersey Wildlife Trust is renamed the Durrell Wildlife Trust.

Animal species and subspecies named after Gerald Durrell

• Clarkeia durrelli- a fossil early Silurian brachiopod from the Rhynchonellid order, discovered in 1982 (however, there is no exact information that it was named after Gerald Durrell).
• Nactus serpensinsula durrelli- a subspecies of the island bare-toed gecko from Round Island from the Mascarene Islands group, which is part of the island nation of Mauritius. Named in honor of Gerald and Lee Durrell for their contribution to the conservation of this species and the fauna of Round Island in general. Mauritius released .
• Ceylonthelphusa durrelli- a very rare freshwater crab from the island of Sri Lanka.
• Benthophilus durrelli- fish from the goby family, discovered in 2004.
• Kotchevnik durrelli- a night butterfly from the woodworm family, discovered in Armenia and described in 2004.
• Mahea durrelli- Madagascar bug from the tree shield bug family. Described in 2005.
• Centrolene durrellorum is a tree frog from the glass frog family. Found in Ecuador in the eastern foothills of the Andes. Discovered in 2002, described in 2005. Named in honor of Gerald and Lee Durrell "for their contribution to the conservation of the world's biodiversity."
• Salanoia durrelli(Darrell's Mungo) is a mongoose-like mammal in the Madagascar civet family. It lives in Madagascar in the coastal zone of Lake Alaotra. The species was found and described in 2010.

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Literature

• Botting D. Gerald Durrell. Journey to Adventurer. - M.: EKSMO-Press, 2002. - 640 p. - 5000 copies. (p) ISBN 5-04-010245-3

see also

Notes

Links

• Durrell Wildlife Foundation
• on the Foundation's website
• in the library of Maxim Moshkov

Excerpt characterizing Durrell, Gerald

At that time in St. Petersburg, in the highest circles, with more fervor than ever before, there was a complex struggle between the parties of Rumyantsev, the French, Maria Feodorovna, the Tsarevich and others, drowned out, as always, by the trumpeting of court drones. But calm, luxurious, preoccupied only with ghosts, reflections of life, Petersburg life walked in the old way; and because of the course of this life, great efforts had to be made to realize the danger and the difficult situation in which the Russian people found themselves. There were the same exits, balls, the same french theater, the same interests of the courts, the same interests of service and intrigue. It was only in the highest circles that efforts were made to recall the difficulty of the present situation. It was told in a whisper about how opposite one another acted, in such difficult circumstances, both empresses. Empress Maria Feodorovna, concerned about the well-being of the charitable and educational institutions subordinate to her, made an order to send all the institutions to Kazan, and the things of these institutions had already been packed. Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, on the question of what orders she would like to make, with her usual Russian patriotism deigned to answer that about public institutions she cannot make orders, as this concerns the sovereign; about the same thing that personally depends on her, she deigned to say that she would be the last to leave Petersburg.
On August 26, on the very day of the Battle of Borodino, Anna Pavlovna had an evening, the flower of which was to be the reading of a letter from the bishop, written when sending the image of the Monk Saint Sergius to the sovereign. This letter was revered as a model of patriotic spiritual eloquence. Prince Vasily himself, who was famous for his art of reading, was supposed to read it. (He also read at the Empress's.) The art of reading was considered to be loud, melodious, between a desperate howl and a gentle murmur, to pour words, completely regardless of their meaning, so that quite by chance a howl fell on one word, on others - a murmur. This reading, like all Anna Pavlovna's evenings, had political significance. At this evening there were to be several important persons who had to be ashamed of their trips to the French theater and inspired to a patriotic mood. Quite a few people had already gathered, but Anna Pavlovna had not yet seen all those whom she needed in the drawing-room, and therefore, without yet beginning to read, she started general conversations.
The news of the day that day in St. Petersburg was the illness of Countess Bezukhova. A few days ago the Countess suddenly fell ill, missed several meetings, of which she was an ornament, and it was heard that she did not see anyone and that instead of the famous Petersburg doctors who usually treated her, she entrusted herself to some Italian doctor who treated her with some new and in an extraordinary way.
Everyone knew very well that the illness of the lovely countess arose from the inconvenience of marrying two husbands at once, and that the Italian's treatment consisted in eliminating this inconvenience; but in the presence of Anna Pavlovna, not only did no one dare to think about it, but it was as if no one even knew it.
- On dit que la pauvre comtesse est tres mal. Le medecin dit que c "est l" angine pectorale. [They say that the poor countess is very bad. The doctor said it was chest disease.]
- L "angine? Oh, c" est une maladie terrible! [Chest disease? Oh, it's a terrible disease!]
- On dit que les rivaux se sont reconcilies grace a l "angine ... [They say that the rivals reconciled thanks to this illness.]
The word angine was repeated with great pleasure.
- Le vieux comte est touchant a ce qu "on dit. Il a pleure comme un enfant quand le medecin lui a dit que le cas etait dangereux. [The old count is very touching, they say. He cried like a child when the doctor said that dangerous case.]
Oh, ce serait une perte terrible. C "est une femme ravissante. [Oh, that would be a great loss. Such a lovely woman.]
“Vous parlez de la pauvre comtesse,” said Anna Pavlovna, coming up. - J "ai envoye savoir de ses nouvelles. On m" a dit qu "elle allait un peu mieux. Oh, sans doute, c" est la plus charmante femme du monde, - said Anna Pavlovna with a smile over her enthusiasm. - Nous appartenons a des camps differents, mais cela ne m "empeche pas de l" estimer, comme elle le merite. Elle est bien malheureuse, [You are talking about the poor countess... I sent to find out about her health. I was told that she was a little better. Oh, without a doubt, this is the most beautiful woman in the world. We belong to different camps, but this does not prevent me from respecting her according to her merits. She is so unhappy.] Anna Pavlovna added.
Believing that with these words Anna Pavlovna slightly lifted the veil of secrecy over the countess's illness, one careless young man allowed himself to express surprise that famous doctors were not called, but a charlatan who could give dangerous means was treating the countess.
“Vos informations peuvent etre meilleures que les miennes,” Anna Pavlovna suddenly attacked the inexperienced young man. Mais je sais de bonne source que ce medecin est un homme tres savant et tres habile. C "est le medecin intime de la Reine d" Espagne. [Your news may be more accurate than mine... but I know from good sources that this doctor is a very learned and skillful person. This is the life physician of the Queen of Spain.] - And thus destroying the young man, Anna Pavlovna turned to Bilibin, who in another circle, picking up the skin and, apparently, about to dissolve it, to say un mot, spoke about the Austrians.
- Je trouve que c "est charmant! [I find it charming!] - he said about a diplomatic paper, under which the Austrian banners taken by Wittgenstein were sent to Vienna, le heros de Petropol [the hero of Petropolis] (as he was called in Petersburg).
- How, how is it? Anna Pavlovna turned to him, rousing silence to hear mot, which she already knew.
And Bilibin repeated the following authentic words of the diplomatic dispatch he had compiled:
- L "Empereur renvoie les drapeaux Autrichiens," Bilibin said, "drapeaux amis et egares qu" il a trouve hors de la route, [The Emperor sends the Austrian banners, friendly and misguided banners that he found off the real road.] - finished Bilibin loosening the skin.
- Charmant, charmant, [Charming, charming,] - said Prince Vasily.
- C "est la route de Varsovie peut etre, [This is the Warsaw road, maybe.] - Prince Hippolyte said loudly and unexpectedly. Everyone looked at him, not understanding what he wanted to say with this. Prince Hippolyte also looked around with cheerful surprise around him. He, like others, did not understand what the words he said meant. During his diplomatic career, he noticed more than once that words suddenly spoken in this way turned out to be very witty, and just in case, he said these words, "Perhaps it will turn out very well," he thought, "but if it doesn't come out, they will be able to arrange it there." an awkward silence, that insufficiently patriotic face that Anna Pavlovna was waiting for to address entered, and she, smiling and shaking her finger at Ippolit, invited Prince Vasily to the table, and, bringing him two candles and a manuscript, asked him to begin. Everything went silent.
- Most merciful Sovereign Emperor! - Prince Vasily proclaimed sternly and looked around the audience, as if asking if anyone had anything to say against this. But no one said anything. “The capital city of Moscow, New Jerusalem, accepts its Christ,” he suddenly struck at his word, “like a mother in the arms of her zealous sons, and through the emerging darkness, seeing the brilliant glory of your state, sings in delight: “Hosanna, blessed is the coming !" - Prince Vasily uttered these last words in a weeping voice.
Bilibin carefully examined his nails, and many, apparently, were shy, as if asking, what are they to blame for? Anna Pavlovna whispered ahead, like an old woman, the communion prayer: “Let the impudent and insolent Goliath ...” she whispered.
Prince Vasily continued:
- “Let the impudent and arrogant Goliath from the borders of France envelop deadly horrors on the edges of Russia; meek faith, this sling of the Russian David, will suddenly strike down the head of his bloodthirsty pride. This image of St. Sergius, an ancient zealot for the good of our fatherland, is brought to Your Imperial Majesty. Painful that my weakening strength prevents me from enjoying your kindest contemplation. I send warm prayers to heaven, that the almighty will magnify the right kind and fulfill the wishes of your majesty in good.
– Quelle force! Quelstyle! [What power! What a syllable!] - praises were heard to the reader and the writer. Inspired by this speech, Anna Pavlovna's guests talked for a long time about the state of the fatherland and made various assumptions about the outcome of the battle, which was to be fought the other day.
- Vous verrez, [You will see.] - said Anna Pavlovna, - that tomorrow, on the sovereign's birthday, we will receive news. I have a good feeling.

Anna Pavlovna's presentiment was indeed justified. The next day, during a prayer service in the palace on the occasion of the sovereign's birthday, Prince Volkonsky was summoned from the church and received an envelope from Prince Kutuzov. It was Kutuzov's report, written on the day of the battle from Tatarinova. Kutuzov wrote that the Russians had not retreated a single step, that the French had lost much more than ours, that he was reporting in a hurry from the battlefield, without having had time to collect the latest information. So it was a victory. And immediately, without leaving the temple, gratitude was rendered to the creator for his help and for the victory.
Anna Pavlovna's premonition was justified, and a joyfully festive mood reigned in the city all morning. Everyone recognized the victory as complete, and some have already spoken of the capture of Napoleon himself, of his deposition and the election of a new head for France.
Away from business and amid the conditions of court life, it is very difficult for events to be reflected in all their fullness and strength. Involuntarily, general events are grouped around one particular case. So now the main joy of the courtiers was as much in the fact that we had won, as in the fact that the news of this victory fell on the sovereign’s birthday. It was like a successful surprise. Kutuzov's message also spoke of Russian losses, and Tuchkov, Bagration, Kutaisov were named among them. Also, the sad side of the event involuntarily in the local, St. Petersburg world was grouped around one event - the death of Kutaisov. Everyone knew him, the sovereign loved him, he was young and interesting. On this day, everyone met with the words:
How amazing it happened. In the very prayer. And what a loss for the Kutays! Ah, what a pity!
- What did I tell you about Kutuzov? Prince Vasily was now speaking with the pride of a prophet. “I have always said that he alone is capable of defeating Napoleon.
But the next day there was no news from the army, and the general voice became anxious. The courtiers suffered for the suffering of the uncertainty in which the sovereign was.
- What is the position of the sovereign! - the courtiers said and no longer extolled, as on the third day, and now they condemned Kutuzov, who was the cause of the sovereign's anxiety. Prince Vasily on this day no longer boasted of his protege Kutuzov, but remained silent when it came to the commander in chief. In addition, by the evening of that day, it seemed as if everything had come together in order to plunge the residents of St. Petersburg into alarm and anxiety: another terrible news. Countess Elena Bezukhova died suddenly from this terrible disease, which was so pleasant to pronounce. Officially, in large societies, everyone said that Countess Bezukhova died from a terrible attack of angine pectorale [chest sore throat], but in intimate circles they told details about how le medecin intime de la Reine d "Espagne [medical physician of the Queen of Spain] prescribed Helene small doses some medicine to produce a certain effect; but like Helen, tormented by the fact that old earl suspected her, and because the husband to whom she wrote (that unfortunate depraved Pierre) did not answer her, she suddenly took a huge dose of the medicine prescribed for her and died in agony before help could be given. It was said that Prince Vasily and the old count took up the Italian; but the Italian showed such notes from the unfortunate dead woman that he was immediately released.
The general conversation focused on three sad events: the unknown of the sovereign, the death of Kutaisov and the death of Helen.
On the third day after Kutuzov's report, a landowner from Moscow arrived in St. Petersburg, and the news spread throughout the city that Moscow had been surrendered to the French. It was terrible! What was the position of the sovereign! Kutuzov was a traitor, and Prince Vasily, during the visites de condoleance [condolence visits] on the occasion of the death of his daughter, which they made to him, spoke of Kutuzov, who had previously been praised by him (it was forgivable for him to forget in sadness what he had said before), he said, that nothing else could be expected from a blind and depraved old man.

In the spring of 1935, a small British family arrived in Corfu for a long visit, consisting of a widowed mother and three children no more than twenty years old. A month earlier, the fourth son arrived there, who was over twenty - and besides, he was married; at first they all stopped in Perama. The mother with her younger offspring settled in the house, which they later began to call the Strawberry-Pink Villa, and the eldest son and his wife first settled in the house of a fisherman neighbor.

It was, of course, the Darrell family. Everything else, as they say, belongs to history.

Is it so?

Is not a fact. In the years that have passed since then, many words have been written about the Durrells and about the five years they spent in Corfu, from 1935 to 1939, most of them by the Durrells themselves. And yet, regarding this period of their lives, there are still many unanswered questions, and the main one is - what exactly happened during these years?

I managed to ask this question to Gerald Durrell himself in the 70s, when I took a group of schoolchildren to Durrell Zoo in Jersey during a trip to the Channel Islands.

Gerald treated us all with extraordinary kindness. But he refused to answer questions about Corfu, unless I promised to return to next year with another group of students. I promised. And then he very frankly answered all the questions that I asked him.

At that time, I considered it a confidential conversation, so I never recounted much of what was said. But I still used the main milestones of his story - to seek explanations from others. The detailed picture that I was thus able to put together I shared with Douglas Botting, who then wrote an authorized biography of Gerald Durrell, and with Hilary Pipeti when she was writing her guide "In the Footsteps of Lawrence and Gerald Durrell in Corfu, 1935-1939".

Now, however, everything has changed. Namely - all members of this family have long died. Mr Durrell died in India in 1928, Mrs Durrell in England in 1965, Leslie Durrell in England in 1981, Lawrence Durrell in France in 1990, Gerald Durrell in Jersey in 1995, and Finally, Margo Darrell died in England in 2006.

They all had children, with the exception of Gerald; but the reason why it was impossible to give details of that old conversation died with Margot.

What now needs to be said?

I think some important questions about the Darrells in Corfu, which we still sometimes hear, require an answer. Below I just try to answer them - truthfully, as far as possible. What I am presenting was, for the most part, told by Darrell to me personally.

1. Is Gerald's book My Family and Other Animals more of a fiction or more of a non-fiction?

Documentary. All the characters mentioned in it are real people, and all of them are carefully described by Gerald. The same applies to animals. And all the cases described in the book are facts, although not always stated in chronological order, but Gerald himself warns about this in the preface to the book. The dialogue also faithfully reproduces the manner in which the Durrells communicated with each other.

© Montse & Ferran ⁄ flickr.com

The White House in Kalami, Corfu, where Lawrence Durrell lived

2. If so, why does Lawrence live with his family in the book, when in fact he was married and lived separately in Kalami? And why is there no mention of his wife Nancy Darrell in the book?

Because, in fact, Lawrence and Nancy spent most of their time in Corfu with the Darrell family, and not in the White House in Kalami - this refers to the period when Mrs. Durrell rented the huge Yellow and White Villas (that is, from September 1935 to August 1937 and from September 1937 until their departure from Corfu.They rented the strawberry-pink villa for the first time, and this lasted less than six months).

In fact, the Durrells have always been a very close-knit family, and Mrs. Durrell was in these years the center of family life. Both Leslie and Margot, after they were twenty, also lived separately in Corfu for some time, but wherever they settled in Corfu during these years (the same goes for Leslie and Nancy), Mrs. Darrell's villas always turned out to be among these places.

However, it should be noted that Nancy Darrell never really became a member of the family, and she and Lawrence parted forever - shortly after leaving Corfu.

3. "My family and other animals" - a more or less truthful account of the events of that time. What about Gerald's other Corfu books?

Over the years, invention has increased. In his second book about Corfu, Birds, Beasts and Relatives, Gerald told some of his best stories about his time in Corfu, and most of these stories are true, though not all. Some of the stories were pretty wacky, so he later regretted including them in the book.

Many of the events described in the third book, The Garden of the Gods, are also fictitious. In short, the most complete and detailed about life in Corfu is described in the first book. The second included some stories that were not included in the first, but they were not enough for a whole book, so fiction had to fill in the gaps. And the third book and the collection of short stories that followed it, although they contained some share of real events, are mostly literature.

4. Are all the facts about this period of the family's life included in Gerald's books and stories about Corfu, or was something deliberately omitted?

Something has been deliberately omitted. And even more than intentionally. Toward the end, Gerald grew increasingly out of his mother's control and lived with Lawrence and Nancy in Kalami for some time. For a number of reasons, he never mentioned this period. But it was precisely at this time that Gerald could rightfully be called a "child of nature."

So, if childhood really is, as they say, a "writer's bank account", then it was in Corfu that both Gerald and Lawrence more than replenished his experience, subsequently reflected in their books.

The future singer of beasts was born in 1925 in India. There, at the age of two, he chose a profession: not yet able to walk properly, Gerald was already much more interested in animals than in people. In 1933, the Durrells moved to the island of Corfu, where Gerald's ideal-heavenly childhood passed. The Durrells' home and garden is awash with gulls, hedgehogs, praying mantises, donkeys and matchbox scorpions, but the family patiently endures their youngest son's uneasy passion.

It was not customary then to think too vigorously about the harmful effects of alcohol on a child's body, so the taste of sunny Greek wine was familiar to Jerry from a very tender age. Darrell always drank a lot, but alcohol never bothered him. On the contrary, the splash of whiskey in a glass, warm palm wine in pumpkin calabash, gin drunk from the bottle became an obligatory poetic refrain in the description of his zoological expeditions, because it is one thing just to catch a caiman with a net and quite another to do all the same while staying lightly drunk.

Lawrence Durrell once allowed himself to be skeptical about the work of his brother who became a world star: “This, of course, is not literature. Although, to be honest, your descriptions of animals and drinking parties are really funny.

Descriptions of animals and booze brought Gerald fame and money, which allowed him to fulfill his life's dream. In 1959, Darrell opened his own zoo on the island of Jersey. He made films about animals, wrote books about animals, and took care of the animals in his zoo.

Addiction to alcohol did not affect the efficiency, sense of humor and Gerald's surprisingly clear mind. His biographer D. Botting testified: "Alcohol is necessary for Gerald, like food and water, it allows him to work." Still, alcohol won.

The personality of the writer did not suffer from daily libations, but the liver turned out to be weaker. Cirrhosis forced him to give up alcohol, but it was too late: in 1995, Darrell died after an unsuccessful liver transplant operation.

Genius against drinking

Darrell on alcohol - with tenderness

And we should all be grateful for that. gunter_spb (to a great collector of "tanks"), who, in turn, "got" them in a very intricate way. But here I'd rather quote him himself:

"In the most detailed biography of Gerald from Douglas Botting "Journey to Adventure" I came across a mention that on the Cameroonian expedition of 1957 (on which the book "The Zoo in My Luggage" was written, and before that - "Hounds of Bafut" about the first voyage to Cameroon) included Life magazine correspondent Donald Suharek and took a lot of pictures there.

I am a simple person: when I saw the magic combination of the words “photographer + Life”, I immediately got into the Life archive, entered the keywords and - lo and behold! - discovered all the characters familiar from childhood. From Darrell himself, to Von Bafut and his wives. Well, pure time travel. Darrell is 32 years old, still young and full of enthusiasm.

For connoisseurs of Darell's creativity, I suggest taking a look at the live illustrations for the book. But first, a 1960 photograph of the family (again without Leslie's promiscuous brother), taken at the Jersey Zoo. And also Life.

Cheerful family from left to right: Gerald, Margo (on the hood of the Land Rover), mother, Larry.

1. Mater himself and the cubs of red monkeys.

In general, it is unusual to see Gerald without a beard, but this is understandable - in conditions of African heat, especially humid, the skin under the beard begins to "ache". Therefore, it is clear why he constantly shaved.

2. In the "Guest House" provided by the Fon, on the veranda where the collection was kept. Wife in the foreground - Jackie Durrell

3. Stairs to the "Guest house"

4. With the natives in Bafut. We draw for them animals that we want to catch

5. Locals brought small prey - as usual, in gourd vessels, baskets and bags

6. Chimpanzee. The one from the book. Remember the text?

First we got a male baby. He arrived one morning, lying in the arms of a hunter. On the wrinkled muzzle of the cub there was such a mockingly arrogant expression, as if he imagined himself to be some kind of eastern nobleman and hired a hunter to wear him. We immediately decided to give him a name worthy of such a high-born primate, and christened him Cholmondeley St. John, or corrected for the pronunciation of Chumley Singen.

7. We drink not with anyone, but with the Background itself. To be more precise - Ahirimbi II, Fon (king) of Bafut from 1932 to 1968.

8. Fon's many wives

9. Background near his "country" palace

10. Gerald and Jackie Durrell.
In my opinion, she's just a sweetheart .. Don't you think?
It is a pity that their life together ended so badly. But so far everything is fine and they are busy in Bafut with a common cause

11. Again with the Background (let's pay attention to the touching European boots on the feet of the monarch. They are sure to be very tight for him - however, there are also in the book about these boots). In the background is Sophie's secretary.

12. And again drunkenness with the king ...

One of Fon's wives brought a tray of bottles and glasses. Von generously filled three glasses of Scotch whiskey and, smiling happily, handed them to us. I looked at the four inches of straight whiskey in my glass and sighed. Whatever the Fon has done since my last visit, he has not joined the temperance society.

Let's pay attention to the number of bottles on the table and already empty - in the lower right corner under the chairs.))

13. Again with Chimpanzee Chumley

14. Gerald caught a monitor lizard

15. Trouble with new prey

16. Happiness for a zoologist!

17. Dancing in the Fon's palace. Background with Jackie Darrell to the right

18. "Guest house". We catch a snake crawling out of a pumpkin

Gerald Durrell (1925–1995) in the Askania-Nova nature reserve, USSR 1985

Like everyone soviet child I have loved Gerald Durrell's books since childhood. Given that I loved animals, and learned to read very early, bookcases were meticulously searched as a child for any Darrell books, and the books themselves were read many times.

Then I grew up, the love for animals subsided a little, but the love for Darrell's books remained. True, over time, I began to notice that this love is not entirely cloudless. If before I simply swallowed books, as it should be for the reader, smiling and sad in the right places, later, reading them already in adulthood, I discovered something like innuendo. There were few of them, they were skillfully hidden, but for some reason it seemed to me that the ironic and good-natured merry fellow Darrell for some reason here and there

as if covering a piece of his life or deliberately focuses the reader's attention on other things. I was not a lawyer then, but for some reason I felt that something was wrong here.

I, to my shame, have not read Darrell's biographies. It seemed to me that the author already described his life in great detail in numerous books, leaving no room for speculation. Yes, sometimes, already on the Internet, I came across “shocking” revelations from various sources, but they were artless and, frankly, hardly capable of shocking anyone seriously. Well, yes, Gerald himself, it turns out, drank like a fish. Well, yes, he divorced his first wife. Well, yes, it seems that there are rumors that the Durrells were not such a friendly and loving family, as it seems to an inexperienced reader ...

But at some point I came across a biography of Gerald Durrell by Douglas Botting. The book turned out to be very voluminous and I started reading it by accident. But once he started, he couldn't stop. I can't explain why. I must admit, I have long found much more interesting books than the books of Gerald Durrell. And I'm not ten years old anymore. And yes, I realized a long time ago that people very often tell lies - for a variety of reasons. But I read. Not because I have some kind of maniacal interest in Gerald Durrell or persistently strive to reveal everything that has been hidden from him for many years.

family from journalists. No. I just found it interesting to find all those tiny understatements and meaningful signs that I caught as a child.

In this respect, Botting's book proved to be ideal. As befits a good biographer, he talks very thoroughly and calmly about Gerald Durrell throughout his life. From childhood to old age. He is impassive and, despite the immense respect for the object of the biography, does not seek to hide his vices, as well as

solemnly display them to the public. Botting writes about a person carefully, cautiously, without missing anything. This is not a hunter dirty laundry, quite the opposite. Sometimes he is even bashfully laconic in those parts of Darrell's biography, which would be enough for newspapers for a couple of hundred catchy headlines.

As a matter of fact, the entire subsequent text, in essence, consists of about 90% of Botting's abstract, the rest had to be filled in from other sources. I simply wrote out individual facts as I read, solely for myself, not assuming that the summary would take more than two pages. But by the end of the reading there were twenty of them, and I realized that I really did not know much about the idol of my childhood. And once again, no, I'm not talking about dirty secrets, family vices and other obligatory vicious ballast

noble British family. Here I lay out only those facts that, while reading, surprised me, struck me or seemed amusing. Simply put, individual and small details of Darrell's life, the understanding of which, it seems to me, will allow us to take a closer look at his life and read books in a new way.

I'll break this post into three parts to fit. In addition, all the facts will be neatly divided into chapters - in accordance with the milestones of Darrell's life.

The first chapter will be the shortest, as it tells about Darrell's early childhood and his life in India.

1. Initially, the Darrells lived in British India, where Darrell Sr. worked fruitfully as a civil engineer. He managed to provide for his family, the income from his enterprises and securities helped them for a long time, but he also had to pay a harsh price - at the age of forty small years Lawrence Durrell (senior) died, apparently from a stroke. After his death, it was decided to return to England, where, as you know, the family did not stay long.

2. It would seem that Jerry Darrell, a lively and direct child with a monstrous thirst for learning new things, should have become, if not an excellent school student, then at least the soul of the company. But no. The school was so disgusting to him that he felt bad every time he was forcibly taken there. The teachers, for their part, considered him a dumb and lazy child.

And he himself almost lost consciousness at the mere mention of the school.

3. Despite British citizenship, all family members experienced a surprisingly similar attitude towards their historical homeland, namely, they could not stand it. Larry Darrell called it Pudding Island and claimed that a mentally healthy person in Foggy Albion is not able to survive for more than a week. The rest were with him

practically unanimous and tirelessly confirmed their position by practice. Mother and Margot subsequently settled firmly in France, followed by the adult Gerald. Leslie settled down in Kenya. As for Larry, he was completely relentless all over the world, and in England he was more likely to visit, and with obvious displeasure. However, I'm already getting ahead of myself.

4. The mother of the numerous and noisy Durrell family, despite the fact that she appears in the texts of her son as an absolutely infallible person with only virtues, had her own small weaknesses, one of which from her youth was alcohol. Their mutual friendship was born back in India, and after the death of her husband, it only steadily grew stronger.

According to the recollections of acquaintances and eyewitnesses, Mrs. Darrell went to bed exclusively in the company with a bottle of gin, but in the preparation of home-made wines she overshadowed everyone and everything. However, looking ahead again, love for

alcohol seems to have passed on to all members of this family, albeit unevenly.

Let's move on to Jerry's childhood in Corfu, which later formed the basis of the wonderful book My Families and Other Animals. I read this book as a child and re-read it probably twenty times. And the older I got, the more often it seemed to me that this narrative, infinitely optimistic, bright and ironic, did not finish something. Too beautiful and natural

there were pictures of the cloudless existence of the Durrell family in a pristine Greek paradise. I can’t say that Darrell seriously embellished reality, glossed over some embarrassing details or something like that, but discrepancies with reality in places can still surprise the reader.

According to researchers of Darrell's work, biographers and critics, the entire trilogy ("My Family and Other Animals", "Birds, Animals and Relatives", "Garden of the Gods") is not very uniform in terms of authenticity and authenticity of the events described, so to believe it completely autobiographical is still not worth it. It is generally accepted that only the first book became a truly documentary, the events described in it are fully consistent with the real, perhaps with minor inclusions of fantasy and inaccuracies.

It should, however, be taken into account that Darrell began writing the book at the age of thirty-one, and he was ten in Corfu, so many details of his childhood could easily be lost in memory or overgrown with imaginary details.

Other books sin fiction much more, being rather a fusion of fiction and non-fiction. Thus, the second book ("Birds, Beasts and Relatives") includes a large number

fictional stories, some of which Darrell later regretted including. Well, the third ("Garden of the Gods") is a work of art with beloved characters.

Corfu: Margo, Nancy, Larry, Jerry, Mom.

5. Judging by the book, Larry Durrell constantly lived with the whole family, doping its members with annoying self-confidence and poisonous sarcasm, and also serving from time to time as a source of trouble of various shapes, properties and sizes. This is not entirely true. The fact is that Larry never lived in the same house with his family. From the first day in Greece, he, along with his wife Nancy, rented his own house, and at certain periods of time he even lived in a neighboring city, but he only ran to visit his relatives periodically, to stay. Moreover, Margo and Leslie, having reached the age of twenty, also showed attempts to live an independent life and for some time lived separately from the rest of the family.

Larry Darrell

6. How, do not remember his wife Nancy? .. However, it would be surprising if they remembered, because in the book "My Family and Other Animals" she is simply absent. But she wasn't invisible. Nancy often stayed with Larry at the Durrells and certainly deserved at least a couple of paragraphs of text. There is an opinion that she was blotted out from the manuscript by the author, allegedly because of a bad relationship with the mother of a restless family, but this is not so. Gerald deliberately left her out of the book in order to establish an emphasis on "familiality", leaving only the Durrells in focus.

Nancy would hardly have turned out to be a supporting figure like Theodore or Spiro, after all, not a servant, but she did not want to join her family either. In addition, at the time of the publication of the book (1956), the marriage of Larry and Nancy broke up, so there was even less remembrance of the old desire. So just in case, the author completely lost his brother's wife between the lines. As if she was not at all in Corfu.

Larry with wife Nancy, 1934

7. Jerry's temporary teacher, Kralewski, a shy dreamer and author of crazy "Lady" stories, existed in reality, only his last name had to be changed just in case - from the original "Krajewski" to "Kralevsky". This was hardly done for fear of prosecution by the island's most inspired myth-maker. The fact is that Krajewski, along with his mother and all the canaries, tragically died during the war - a German bomb fell on his house.

8. I won't go into detail about Theodore Stephanides, naturalist and Jerry's first real teacher. He has distinguished himself enough in his long life to deserve. I will only note that Theo and Jerry's friendship lasted not only in the "Corfucian" period. Over the decades, they met many times and, although joint work and did not lead, maintained excellent relations until his death. The fact that he played a significant role in the Durrell family is evidenced at least by the fact that both writing brothers, Larry and Jerry, subsequently dedicated books to him, "Greek Islands" (Lawrence Durrell) and "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" (Gerald Durrell ). Darrell also dedicated "The Young Naturalist", one of his most successful works, to him.

Theodore Stephanides

9. Remember the colorful story about the Greek Kostya, who killed his wife, but whom the prison authorities let him go for a walk and unwind from time to time? This meeting actually happened, with one small difference - the Darrell who met the strange prisoner was called Leslie. Yes, Jerry attributed it to himself just in case.

10. It appears from the text that the Fatgut Booth, the Durrell family's epic boat on which Jerry made his scientific expeditions, was built by Leslie. In fact, just bought. All her technical improvements consisted in the installation of a homemade mast (unsuccessful).

11. Another teacher, Jerry, named Peter (actually Pat Evans), did not leave the island during the war. Instead, he went to the partisans and showed himself very well in this field. Unlike the poor fellow Kraevsky, he even survived and then returned to his homeland as a hero.

12. The reader involuntarily gets the feeling that the Durrell family found their Eden immediately after arriving on the island, only for a short time changing over at the hotel. In fact, this period of their life was well delayed, and it was difficult to call it pleasant. The fact is that due to some financial circumstances, the mother of the family temporarily lost access to funds from England. So for some time the family lived almost starving, on pasture. What kind of Eden is there ... The true savior was Spiro, who not only found the Darrells new house, but also in some unknown way settled all the differences with the Greek bank.

13. Barely ten years old Gerald Durrell, accepting goldfish stolen from Spiro by a resourceful Greek from the royal pond, assumed that thirty years later he himself would become an honored guest in the royal palace.

Spiro and Jerry

14. By the way, financial circumstances, among others, explain the departure of the family back to England. The Durrells had originally owned shares in some Burmese business inherited from their late father. With the advent of the war, this financial stream was completely blocked, and others became thinner every day. In the end, the Darrell Mission was forced to return to London to put its financial assets in order.

15. From the text there is a complete feeling that the family returned home in in full force with a makeweight like a bunch of animals. But this is a serious inaccuracy. Returned to England only Jerry himself, his mother, take Leslie and the Greek maid. All the rest remained in Corfu, despite the outbreak of the war and the threatening situation of Corfu in the light of recent military and political events. Larry and Nancy stayed there until the last, but then they nevertheless left Corfu by ship. The most surprising of all was Margot, who in the text is depicted as a very narrow-minded and simple-minded person. She fell in love with Greece so much that she refused to return even if she was occupied by German troops. Agree, remarkable fortitude for a simple-minded girl of twenty years of age. By the way, she nevertheless left the island on the last plane, succumbing to the persuasion of one flight technician, whom she later married.

16. By the way, there is one more little detail about Margo, which is still in the shadows. It is believed that her brief absence from the island (mentioned by Darrell) is due to a sudden pregnancy and departure to England for an abortion. It's hard to say something here. Botting does not mention anything of the kind, but he is very tactful and is not seen trying to deliberately pull the skeletons out of Darrell's cabinets.

17. By the way, the relationship between the British family and the native Greek population was not as idyllic as it seems from the text. No, no serious quarrels with local residents did not arise, but those around the Durrells did not look very kindly. The dissolute Leslie (of whom more to come) at one time managed to wander around a lot and will be remembered for his not always sober antics, but Margot was considered a fallen woman at all, perhaps partly because of her addictions to open swimsuits.

Here ends one of the main chapters in the life of Gerald Durrell. As he himself admitted many times, Corfu left a very serious imprint on him. But Gerald Durrell after Corfu is a completely different Gerald Durrell. No longer a boy, carelessly studying the fauna in the front garden, already a youth and a young man, taking the first steps in the direction he has chosen for life. Perhaps the most exciting chapter of his life begins. Adventurous expeditions, throwing, youthful impulses, hopes and aspirations, love ...

18. Darrell's education ended before it really started. He did not go to school, did not receive a higher education, and did not provide himself with any scientific titles. In addition to self-education, his only "scientific" help was a short period of work in an English zoo in the lowest position of an auxiliary worker. However, towards the end of his life he was an "honorary professor" of several universities. But it won't be very soon...

19. Young Gerald did not go to war due to a happy coincidence - he turned out to be the owner of a neglected sinus disease (chronic catarrh). “Do you want to fight, son? – honestly asked his officer. "No sir." "You are a coward?" "Yes, sir". The officer sighed and sent the failed conscript on his way, mentioning, however, that in order to call oneself a coward, decent masculinity is required. Be that as it may, Gerald Durrell did not go to war, which is good news.

20. A similar failure befell his brother Leslie. A big fan of everything that can shoot, Leslie wanted to go to war as a volunteer, but he was also turned away by soulless doctors - he was not all right with his ears. Judging by the individual events of his life, that which was located between them was also subject to treatment, but more on that separately and later. I can only note that in his family, despite the ardent love from his mother, he was considered a dark and dissolute horse, regularly delivering anxiety and trouble.

21. Shortly after returning to his historical homeland, Leslie managed to attach a child to that same Greek maid, and, although the times were far from Victorian, the situation turned out to be very delicate. And seriously tarnished the reputation of the family after it turned out that Leslie was not going to marry or recognize the child. Thanks to the cares of Margot and the mother, the situation was slowed down, and the child was given shelter and upbringing. However, this did not have a pedagogical effect on Leslie.

22. For a long time he could not find a job, now openly loafing, then indulging in all sorts of dubious adventures, from delivering alcohol (is it legal?) to what his family shyly called "speculation". In general, the guy went to success, simultaneously trying to find his place in the big and cruel world. Almost came. I mean, at some point he had to urgently pack up for a business trip to Kenya, where he would work for many years. In general, he causes a certain sympathy. The only one of the Durrells who could not find his calling, but was surrounded on all sides by famous relatives.

23. There is a feeling that Leslie became an outcast immediately after Corfu. The Durrells somehow very quickly and willingly cut off his branch from the family tree, despite the fact that for some time they still shared shelter with him. Margo about her brother: " Leslie - a short man, an unauthorized home invader, a Rabelaisian figure, lavishing paint on canvases or deep immersed in labyrinths of weapons, boats, beer and women, also penniless, investing his entire inheritance in a fishing boat that sank already before its first voyage to Pool Harbor».

Leslie Darrell.

24. By the way, Margo herself also did not escape the commercial temptation. She turned her part of the inheritance into a fashionable "boarding house", from which she intended to have a stable gesheft. She wrote her own memoirs on this subject, but I must confess that I have not had time to read them yet. However, given the fact that later, with two living brothers, she was forced to work as a maid on the liner, the “boarding business” still did not justify itself.

Margo Darrell

25. The expeditions of Gerald Durrell did not make him famous, although they were eagerly covered in newspapers and on the radio. He became famous overnight by publishing his first book, The Overloaded Ark. Yes, these were the times when a person, having written the first book in his life, suddenly became a world celebrity. By the way, Jerry did not want to write this book either. Experiencing a physiological aversion to writing, he tortured himself and his family for a long time and finished the text to the end only thanks to his brother Larry, who endlessly insisted and motivated. The first was quickly followed by two more. All became instant bestsellers. Like all other books that he published after them.

26. The only book that Gerald, by his own admission, enjoyed writing was My Family and Other Animals. Not surprising, given that absolutely all members of the Durrell family remembered Corfu with unfailing tenderness. Nostalgia is still a typical English dish.

27. Even when reading Darrell's first books, one gets the feeling that the story is being told from the perspective of an experienced professional animal catcher. His confidence, his knowledge of the wild fauna, his judgment, all this betrays a highly experienced person who has devoted his whole life to capturing wild animals in the most distant and terrible corners of the globe. Meanwhile, at the time of writing these books, Jareld was only a little over twenty, and all his baggage of experience consisted of three expeditions, each of which lasted about six months.

28. Several times the young animal catcher had to be on the verge of death. Not as often as it happens with characters in adventure novels, but still much more often than the average British gentleman. Once, due to his own recklessness, he managed to poke his head into a pit infested with poisonous snakes. He himself considered it incredible luck that he managed to get out of it alive. Another time, the snake tooth still overtook its victim. Being sure that he was dealing with a non-venomous snake, Darrell allowed carelessness and almost departed into another world. Saved only by the fact that the doctor miraculously turned out to be the necessary serum. A few more times he had to be ill with not the most pleasant diseases - sand fever, malaria, jaundice ...

29. Despite the image of a lean and energetic hunter of animals, in everyday life Gerald behaved like a true homebody. He hated physical exertion and could easily sit all day in a chair.

30. By the way, all three expeditions were equipped personally by Gerald himself, and the inheritance from his father, received by him when he came of age, was used to finance them. These expeditions gave him considerable experience, but from a financial point of view, they turned into a complete collapse, not even recapturing the money spent.

31. Initially, Gerald Durrell did not treat the native population of the British colonies very politely. He considered it possible to order them, drive them as he liked, and generally did not put him on the same level with the British gentleman. However, this attitude towards representatives of the third world quickly changed. Having lived in the company of blacks without interruption for several months, Gerald began to treat them quite like human beings and even with obvious sympathy. A paradox, later his books were criticized more than once just because of " national factor". At that time, Britain was entering a period of post-colonial repentance, and it was no longer considered politically correct to display plain, funny-speaking and simple-minded savages on the pages of the text.

32. Yes, despite the flurry of positive criticism, worldwide fame and millions of copies, Darrell's books were often criticized. And sometimes - on the part of lovers not of multi-colored people, but of the most animal lovers. Just at that time, Greenpeace and neo-environmental movements arose and formed, the paradigm of which assumed a complete “hands off nature”, and zoos were often considered as concentration camps for animals. Darrell had a lot of spoiled blood while he argued that zoos help to save endangered species of fauna and achieve their stable reproduction.

33. There were in the biography of Gerald Durrell and those pages that he, apparently, would have willingly burned himself. For example, once in South America, he tried to catch a baby hippopotamus. This occupation is difficult and dangerous, because they do not walk alone, and the parents of the hippopotamus, at the sight of catching their offspring, become extremely dangerous and angry. The only way out was to kill two adult hippos, so that later they could catch their cub without interference. Reluctantly, Darrell went for it, he really needed "big animals" for zoos. The case ended unsuccessfully for all of its participants. After killing the female hippo and driving off the male, Darrell discovered that the repulsed cub had just been swallowed by a hungry alligator at that moment. Finita. This incident left a serious imprint on him. First, Darrell stopped talking about this episode without inserting it into any of his texts. Secondly, from that moment on, he, who used to hunt with interest and shoot well, completely stopped the destruction of the fauna with his own hands.