Customer Reviews

Emperor of the Galatians: A Novel

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This is an intriguing book. It reads almost like an alternate-universe scenario science fiction book. What if Rome had not fallen when it did? But this really isn't science fiction. In some ways, it reads like a gnostic text or the scriptural text of another land or tradition, and relies heavily on some biblical allusions - even the title stands out, being the title of one of the New Testament epistles. But this isn't a religious text, either.

At the heart of the book is a letter from Galatia, a Roman province, that contains a prophecy about a dying emperor and three men who will save him. The key figures of Vicena, Rinaldo and Danilo have stories that intertwine in mysterious ways. One gets the sense that fate or divine force is driving them on at some points, but at others, they seem to be adrift. Rinaldo in prison, Danilo in conditions just as bad in the army, scenarios that seem hopeless yet give way to hope.

The emperor is ill. In this modern rendition of the eternal city (which apparently lived up to its name) the emperor is a hallowed figure if still human; the former hopeless characters seek out their fame and fortune in the centre of the empire, the city of Rome, by becoming medical students, hoping to cure ailments that have plagued them and those around them, and somewhat unwittingly become involved in plots beyond their ken. Their drive to cure the emperor is not always a direct, intentional process, nor does it turn out for any of the three men the way they intended for themselves.

Another character, Jose Alkorta, is key in setting up the situations that the healers need, but himself falls victim to foul play and a cover-up. One might think that the more things change, the more they stay the same, even in alternate universes. Alkorta is a minister of state, for education (one might not think this an assassination-worthy post, but when in Rome...). However, Alkorta's influence was not over here, as an enigmatic encounter with his painting later in the story will prove.

The plot line is intricate and meshed together in intriguing ways, but for the careful reader, there is an interesting development of ideas. Kazic's descriptions are full of detail and clear; the sensory and emotional impact of events, sights and people are readily apparent in the narrative. The ending continues in the same vein as the story - while there is something eternal about Rome and the empire, the same in not true for the people involved, even those fulfilling a prophecy.

Emperor of the Galatians is a disarmingly profound novel that operates on a number of levels. Even after a second reading, I'm not sure I have a perfect understanding of the novel as a whole, with its allegorical treatment of good and evil, but it really is an intriguing novel. The setting is most unusual, in that it takes place in a modern-day Roman Empire, a sort of netherworld with aspects of the long ago existing side-by-side with modern technology. The sociopolitical situation of Rome and its second-class provinces adds complexity to an enlightening story possessed of an almost mythic quality.

The novel largely revolves around four individuals. Jose Alkorta, Minister of Education, comes into possession of some seemingly Galatian papers that indicate three young men will come to Rome and cure the emperor Bonifacio of his recent sickness. Although Alkorta is secretly a Galatian by birth, he is unable to translate any of the papers apart from the accompanying letter found with them. Still, he does his part to pave the way for these young men to make their way to the city, even soliciting the erstwhile help of the stern Security Minister, Vicena. The medium for the strangers' arrival is the new university in Rome, a school that will be Alkorta's primary legacy. The young men do not know each other, although they cross paths in meaningful ways on several occasions. Danilo is a soldier charged with securing an innocent Rinaldo's release from a notorious prison, and both come to enroll in the new medical school in Rome. These two young men are pawns of a dizzying array of forces, including Alkorta, Vicena, and seemingly those of Fate and prophecy themselves. For his part, the suspicious Vicena is determined to find out what these young men are up to. In time, both Danilo and Rinaldo find useful jobs for themselves and begin to converge on a common mission unbeknownst to either of them. Rinaldo finds himself led to a storehouse of information and a scientifically intriguing substance that may well hold the key to Rome's future stability - and Danilo comes to hold the key to Rinaldo's future.

There is an extraordinarily human quality to these characters and their situations. Several of them hide their true provincial origins in a metropolitan Rome that welcomes but does not really embrace foreigners. Rinaldo faces a number of human struggles - having lost everything, really, when he was subjected to wrongful imprisonment, his Roman sojourn subjects him to emotional issues such as love and loss, fear, duty, and just a general desire for happiness and fulfillment. Danilo was himself rescued from a potentially dangerous situation in his military unit before embarking on a civilian student life in the big city, and he initially struggles to find a suitable place for himself in this new life he has suddenly been granted. Alkorta, however, is the most intriguing character of all, a leader possessed of a mysterious past and unsuspected secrets that slowly emerge as the story progresses.

Emperor of the Galatians was originally published in Germany in 1993 and is the first of author Mihajlo Kazic's three novels to be published in English. This isn't like reading a novel from an American-born writer, particularly in terms of the author's writing style. Characters sometimes make declarations rather than merely speak, the flow of the writing seems a little bit uneven on occasion, and the whole cultural milieu of the story does have a foreign feel to it. I don't mean to say these are weaknesses, however, as they actually piqued my interest even more and made the read a much more distinctive one than it might have been otherwise. Emperor of the Galatians is truly a fascinating book - partly because it is "different" (in a good way) and reflects a cultural outlook that differs somewhat from my own. Kazic's reverence for words and their power is made manifest loudly and clearly, as he possesses the ability to communicate a great deal in only a few words. Emperor of the Galatians isn't just a novel; it's a reading experience that will stay with me for some time.

This is indeed a fascinating book. It is very easy to read, however every sentence has a much deeper meaning. Contrary to wide spread belief that "everyone can achieve everything" this book infers that every person has a mission to fulfil in his life. Their personal goals are interrelated with devine providence.

The story of three young men who left their province for the capital, they were to fulfil their destinies that they were not aware of. This book may read like a fairy tale with hidden depths and with new meanings appearing each time. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed this novel very much and recommend this book for the person who enjoys contemplative efforts. It is the kind of book that needs to be meditated on and goes far beyond the niceties of a mere entertaining novel. The story itself took me a couple of nights sleep to sink in to attempt to see the forest from the trees, the realism from the fantasy, from the nonfiction from the fiction and this book is apropos for the violence, the wars, the so called noble causes of humanity which have far more significant meanings in human existence than just reading a mere novel of entertainment with the hero's victory, the writer's box office smash and the happily ever after desires of story pleasure. The very pleasure principle of Freud is the result of repression of the realty principle and yet is that all we have? Is Sartre's nausea all there is in a meaningless void? Or is there despite our most grueling and empty life, a life full of higher meaning even so in the very death of our lives as we fight for such noble cause with war and bloodshed that in realty only benefit evil and futile cause of more powerful men in the chain of command in human existence? Despite such utter futility, we may still look to God at the end and pray not only for our souls but for the very souls of all humans, animals and life itself.

Hear are the heroes and higher purpose which in realism, act in contradiction in the existential angst of futility and yet somewhere in higher meaning beyond the logic of religious absolutism and the empty blind patriotism of nationalistic pride, the distant noble hope still lives in subjectivity. As if in hope, there is really only the the Freudian repression of realty in the desires of man which hide in the existential realism of life's empty meaning, the void of emptiness. And yet what if there is some higher teleological meaning? An even much higher noble purpose which exists out of the sight and logistic understanding of man and his so called higher purpose of religious dogmatism and nationalistic pride?. As the madness of quantum physics, which defy all Newtonian logic, in reality still exist in organized structure far beyond the physicists insight and understanding, as the very hope of man, despite the futile existential void, exists in the interdependence of a transpersonal reality, a web of relational links which exist in both subjective and objective meanings, in both individual and collective subjective values and empirical realty beyond human empiricism into the very hope that man exhibits despite all meaninglessness of his human goals? And here is one of our heroes, who despite the tortures of his individual life, the cruelties of the leaders, the frailties of the body, the sadism of fellow travelers, stills "sees" the beauty of higher purpose and religious value in subjective being far beyond empirical science and political mathematics. So here is our end. Do we rest in ignorance, hiding in the certitude's of man made securities and answers. Or do we vomit in existential emptiness and cold painful menace? Or do we venture beyond both in a transpersonal or in an integral psychology of multiplicities where diversities, despite contradictions, rest in an interdependence of relational wholeness beyond human understanding which in essence is the religious hope and higher meaning of uncertainty and faith?

I recommend this book, mostly for the contemplator, the thinker, the realist and yet the one who can walk in what seems meaninglessness, in the desert without the water and yet "know" without sight, rest without rescue in the ambiguity of vision which exhalts higher and profound depths of being, stripping the surfaces of majority in superficial existence.