My Family and Other Animals
Encyclopedia
My Family and Other Animals is an autobiographical
work by naturalist Gerald Durrell
, telling of the part of his childhood he spent on the Greek
island of Corfu
between 1935 and 1939. It describes the life of the Durrell Family
on the island in a humorous manner, and also richly discusses the fauna of the island. It is the first and most famous of Durrell's Corfu trilogy, together with Birds, Beasts, and Relatives
, and The Garden of the Gods
.
Durrell had already written several successful books about his trips collecting animals in the wild for zoo
s when My Family and Other Animals came out in 1956
. Its comic exaggeration of the foibles of his family — especially his eldest brother Lawrence Durrell
, who later became a famous novelist — and heartfelt appreciation of the natural world made it very successful. It launched Durrell's career as owner of the Jersey Zoological Park
in the Channel Islands
, as well as novel-writer and television personality; and was also influential in the development of tourism in Corfu.
, the family comprised their widowed mother
, the gun-mad Leslie, and diet
-obsessed sister Margo
together with Roger the dog. They are fiercely protected by their taxi-driver friend Spiro (Spyros "Americano" Chalikiopoulos) and mentored by the polymath
Dr Theodore Stephanides
who provides Gerald with his education in natural history
. Other human characters, chiefly eccentric, include Gerald's private tutor
s, the artistic and literary visitors Larry invites to stay, and the local peasant
s who befriend the family.
The human comedy is interspersed by descriptions of the animal life which Gerald observes on his expeditions around the family homes, island, and seashore and which he frequently brings back and keeps as pets; these include Achilles the tortoise
, Quasimodo the pigeon
, Ulysses the Scops owl
, numerous spider
s, Alecko the gull, puppies named Widdle and Puke, and the birds known as the Magenpies.
, where Durrell was recuperating from a severe attack of jaundice
. Whereas Durrell often claimed to find writing a chore, this book was different: his first wife Jacquie
recalled "Never have I known Gerry work as he did then; it seemed to pour out of him". Durrell maintained "he had started off like a good cook with three ingredients which, delicious alone, were even better in combination: namely, the spellbinding landscape of a Greek island before tourism succeeded in spoiling it for tourists; his discovery of and friendship with the wild denizens, both animal and Greek, of that island; and the eccentric conduct of all members of his family." The book was an instant success.
Although My Family is presented as autobiographical, if not completely objective, the events described are not always true — in particular Larry lived in another part of Corfu with his first wife Nancy Durrell, whom Gerald does not mention at all. The chronology of events as they occur in the book is also inaccurate, and the reason for the Durrells' departure from Corfu (World War II
) is not given; instead, it is implied that the family returned to England for the sake of Gerald's education.
However, the book does succeed in preserving the impressions of ten- to fifteen-year-old Gerald extremely vividly and with a great deal of light-hearted humour. Despite the omissions and inaccuracies, Lawrence Durrell commented "This is a very wicked, very funny, and I'm afraid rather truthful book — the best argument I know for keeping thirteen-year-olds at boarding-schools and not letting them hang about the house listening in to conversations of their elders and betters".
The book was first published by Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. in 1956 and in paperback by Penguin Books
in 1959 and has remained in print ever since.
television series in 1987
written by Charles Wood
and directed by Peter Barber-Fleming. It starred Hannah Gordon
and Brian Blessed
, with Darren Redmayne playing the young Gerry. In 2005
, it was remade by the BBC into a 90-minute film, titled My Family And Other Animals
, starring Eugene Simon as the young Gerry, with Imelda Staunton
as Mrs. Durrell and Omid Djalili
as Spiro. This adaptation was written by Simon Nye
.
's memoir Nasty: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints, and Josephine Feeney's novel My Family and Other Natural Disasters; In the Discworld
series of books, there is reference to a fictional book titled My Family and Other Werewolves.
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
work by naturalist Gerald Durrell
Gerald Durrell
Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter...
, telling of the part of his childhood he spent on the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
island of Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
between 1935 and 1939. It describes the life of the Durrell Family
Durrell Family
The Durrell family included:Lawrence Samuel Durrell , an Anglo-Indian Engineer and his wife Louisa Florence Durrell and their children:...
on the island in a humorous manner, and also richly discusses the fauna of the island. It is the first and most famous of Durrell's Corfu trilogy, together with Birds, Beasts, and Relatives
Birds, Beasts, and Relatives
Birds, Beasts, and Relatives is the second volume of the autobiographical Corfu Trilogy by naturalist Gerald Durrell. The trilogy describes his childhood spent on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939....
, and The Garden of the Gods
The Garden of the Gods
The Garden of the Gods is the third book in the autobiographical Corfu trilogy by naturalist and author, Gerald Durrell , following My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts, and Relatives....
.
Durrell had already written several successful books about his trips collecting animals in the wild for zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
s when My Family and Other Animals came out in 1956
1956 in literature
The year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.*Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley....
. Its comic exaggeration of the foibles of his family — especially his eldest brother Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...
, who later became a famous novelist — and heartfelt appreciation of the natural world made it very successful. It launched Durrell's career as owner of the Jersey Zoological Park
Jersey Zoological Park
Jersey Zoological Park or Jersey Zoo is a zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the English Channel by naturalist and author Gerald Durrell . It is now officially called Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust after its founder, or Durrell for short...
in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
, as well as novel-writer and television personality; and was also influential in the development of tourism in Corfu.
Summary
The book is an autobiographical account of five years in the childhood of naturalist Gerald Durrell, age 10 at the start of the saga, of his family, pets and life during a sojourn on the island of Corfu. The book is divided into three sections, marking the three villas where the family lived on the island. Apart from Gerald (the youngest) and LarryLawrence Durrell
Lawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...
, the family comprised their widowed mother
Louisa Florence Durrell
Louisa Dixie Durrell, born Louisa Florence Dixie was the mother of novelist Lawrence Durrell and naturalist Gerald Durrell...
, the gun-mad Leslie, and diet
Dieting
Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...
-obsessed sister Margo
Margaret Durrell
Margaret Isabel Mabel Durrell was the younger sister of novelist Lawrence Durrell, and elder sister of naturalist, author and TV presenter Gerald Durrell, whose Corfu Trilogy of novels — My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and Garden of the Gods — lampoons her...
together with Roger the dog. They are fiercely protected by their taxi-driver friend Spiro (Spyros "Americano" Chalikiopoulos) and mentored by the polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
Dr Theodore Stephanides
Theodore Stephanides
Theodore Stephanides was a Greek poet, author, doctor and naturalist. He is best remembered as the friend and mentor of the famous naturalist Gerald Durrell, featuring in Durrell's My Family and Other Animals and Fillets of Plaice, Durrell's brother Lawrence's Prospero's Cell, and Henry Miller's...
who provides Gerald with his education in natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
. Other human characters, chiefly eccentric, include Gerald's private tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
s, the artistic and literary visitors Larry invites to stay, and the local peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
s who befriend the family.
The human comedy is interspersed by descriptions of the animal life which Gerald observes on his expeditions around the family homes, island, and seashore and which he frequently brings back and keeps as pets; these include Achilles the tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
, Quasimodo the pigeon
Rock Pigeon
The Rock Dove or Rock Pigeon, is a member of the bird family Columbidae . In common usage, this bird is often simply referred to as the "pigeon"....
, Ulysses the Scops owl
Scops owl
Scops owls are Strigidae belong to the genus Otus. Approximately 45 living species are known, but new ones are frequently recognized and unknown ones are still being discovered every few years or so, especially in Indonesia...
, numerous spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s, Alecko the gull, puppies named Widdle and Puke, and the birds known as the Magenpies.
Background
The book was written in 1955 in BournemouthBournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, where Durrell was recuperating from a severe attack of jaundice
Jaundice
Jaundice is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae , and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia . This hyperbilirubinemia subsequently causes increased levels of bilirubin in the extracellular fluid...
. Whereas Durrell often claimed to find writing a chore, this book was different: his first wife Jacquie
Jacquie Durrell
Jacqueline Sonia Durrell was the first wife of Gerald Durrell. She assisted Gerald Durrell on several of his animal collecting expeditions, and with the Jersey Zoological Park - which he founded....
recalled "Never have I known Gerry work as he did then; it seemed to pour out of him". Durrell maintained "he had started off like a good cook with three ingredients which, delicious alone, were even better in combination: namely, the spellbinding landscape of a Greek island before tourism succeeded in spoiling it for tourists; his discovery of and friendship with the wild denizens, both animal and Greek, of that island; and the eccentric conduct of all members of his family." The book was an instant success.
Although My Family is presented as autobiographical, if not completely objective, the events described are not always true — in particular Larry lived in another part of Corfu with his first wife Nancy Durrell, whom Gerald does not mention at all. The chronology of events as they occur in the book is also inaccurate, and the reason for the Durrells' departure from Corfu (World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) is not given; instead, it is implied that the family returned to England for the sake of Gerald's education.
However, the book does succeed in preserving the impressions of ten- to fifteen-year-old Gerald extremely vividly and with a great deal of light-hearted humour. Despite the omissions and inaccuracies, Lawrence Durrell commented "This is a very wicked, very funny, and I'm afraid rather truthful book — the best argument I know for keeping thirteen-year-olds at boarding-schools and not letting them hang about the house listening in to conversations of their elders and betters".
The book was first published by Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. in 1956 and in paperback by Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
in 1959 and has remained in print ever since.
Television and film
My Family and Other Animals was made into a BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series in 1987
1987 in television
The year 1987 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1987.For American TV schedule, see: 1987–88 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:...
written by Charles Wood
Charles Wood (playwright)
Charles Wood is a playwright and scriptwriter for radio, television, and film. He lives in England....
and directed by Peter Barber-Fleming. It starred Hannah Gordon
Hannah Gordon
Hannah Cambell Grant Gordon is a Scottish actress who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television work, including Upstairs, Downstairs, Telford's Change, My Wife Next Door, Joint Account and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave.-Early life:Gordon was born in...
and Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
, with Darren Redmayne playing the young Gerry. In 2005
2005 in television
The year 2005 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2005.For the American TV schedule, see: 2005–06 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
, it was remade by the BBC into a 90-minute film, titled My Family And Other Animals
My Family and Other Animals (film)
My Family And Other Animals is a 2005 film written by Simon Nye and directed by Sheree Folkson. The film is based on the autobiographical book of the same title written by Gerald Durrell, in which he describes a series of anecdotes relating to his family's stay on Corfu from 1935–1939, when he was...
, starring Eugene Simon as the young Gerry, with Imelda Staunton
Imelda Staunton
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake...
as Mrs. Durrell and Omid Djalili
Omid Djalili
Omid Djalili is a British Iranian stand-up comedian, actor, television producer and writer.-Personal life:Djalili was born in Chelsea, London to Iranian Bahá'í parents and is a Bahá'í himself...
as Spiro. This adaptation was written by Simon Nye
Simon Nye
Simon Nye is an English comic television writer, best known for creating the hit sitcom Men Behaving Badly, writing all of the four ITV Panto, co-writing the 2006 film Flushed Away, co-writing Reggie Perrin and creating the latest adaption of William Brown in the Just William CBBC...
.
Theatre
In 2006, the Jersey Arts Centre's Theatre in Education company produced the first stage version, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the book's publication in 1956. Adapted and directed by Daniel Austin, the play premiered on 22 February 2007 at Rouge Bouillon School, St. Helier, Jersey.Title
Several works have referenced the title of Durrell's book, including Simon DoonanSimon Doonan
Simon Doonan is the Creative Ambassador-at-Large of the New York City-based clothing store, Barneys.-Biography:Doonan hails from the English town of Reading. He got his first retail job as a summer job working at Heelas, a department store in Reading that belonged to the John Lewis Partnership...
's memoir Nasty: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints, and Josephine Feeney's novel My Family and Other Natural Disasters; In the Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
series of books, there is reference to a fictional book titled My Family and Other Werewolves.