The Booster Editorial Staff: Patrick Evans

Patrick Evans: Turf Editor. A 'Turf Editor' is a real position in Journalism, but I haven't been able to find out what. [*UPDATE SEPT 19/05 - David Marc Fischer has kindly informed me that a Turf Editor covers horseracing]. In any case, Evans made a scant contribution to The Booster; a poem, I think. I don't even think he was located in Paris at the time, in 1937.

Pat Evans was included in this motley staff due to his associations with Lawrence Durrell. Not only was Durrell's friend, but the English tutor of Larry's younger brother as well. This brother, Gerald Durrell, was only 11 or 12 at the time, and living in Greece with the family. Gerald would grow up to be a famous author in his own right.

In his autobiography, Gerald describes his first impression of Evans: "a tall, handsome young man, fresh from Oxford." (ref. Gerald Durrell: The Authorized Biography, by Douglas Botting).

Evans seemed to be introduced to the Booster circle by Lawrence via letter. Anais Nin writes about an exchange of letters between them, when he wrote to tell her his impressions of her Winter Of Artifice. (ref. The Diary Of Anais Nin, Volume 2 [1934-1939])

Although Evans worked on a book or two, his output seems nearly imposible to find. In 1938, he was included in a prose-poem anthology called Proems, along with Lawrence Durrell. In the 1950's and 60's, a 'Patrick Evans' appears to have done a lot of French to English translations of books; not sure if this is the same man.

(for further detail about Patrick Evans and his relationship to Lawrence Durrell, see Lawrence Durrell: A Biography, by Ian MacNiven)