Wow, probably the read of the year. This is a huge book and possibly very underrated.
The central character, whose name I forget, is a muscular (metaphorically speaking) gay writer of low grade entertainments born around the turn of the 20th century.He travels all over the world but mainly Europe (1920's and 1930's), US (40's and 50's) but then really all over and meets everyone in the literary world—Joyce, Elliot, Hemingway et al.
His sister marries an Italian operatist, whose (apparent) brother is a priest and berates our hero about his homosexuality.
Towards the end of the book the priest has performed a really scary exorcism in the Far East, sheltered Italian anti-fascists from the brown shirts and latterly Germans, and become Pope.
It is a huge burlesque, but also very serious novel about the 20th century and will be re-read. It makes no.53 look totally effete - hence 'muscular' homosexuality above.
Comments