[fantasyfan]

One of the things that stand out for me is the remarkably vivid language which must be a mirror of a very intense, insightful and vigorous mind. We find examples of this quite early on with these whimsical images:

“History in this island [Cyprus] is almost too profuse. It gives one a sort of mental indigestion”

and

“Trees were planted along the immaculate tarmac road that brought me from Larnaca to Nicosia, casuarinas and cypresses. But the wind has defeated them, a furious hot blast which gets up off the sea every afternoon and turns the countless water-wheels. These gaunt iron skeletons stand in groves on the outskirts of the towns: their choral creaking is the island’s chief song”