Femme fatale: a visual/textual reading of the figuration of Justine in Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet

Abstract

the female character, Justine, in Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria quartet. Adopting a feminist Gothic position, I shall consider how Justine’s portrayal as a femme fatale makes her a vehicle for Durrell’s articulation of a misogynistic perspective throughout his tetralogy. Throughout the article, my contention will be that Durrell’s deployment of certain Gothic motifs, in this instance the vampire, automaton, marionette and doll, alongside the trope of the femme fatale, fashion Justine’s embodiment as a monstrousfeminine Other and the locus of masculine fears. My reading will also adopt the rather unconventional position of reading art images into Durrell’s narrative, in order to become a critical interpreter of his textual-visuality