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Morwyn or the Vengeance of God

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J. C. Powys's novel inspired by the Hell in Dante's Divina Commedia, exposes the all too familiar and still very actual excuses and justifications of violence and torture for religious, political and scientific reasons.
In his hell, religion is represented by Calvin, the bigot of Predestination, and by the great Inquisitor Torquemada, for whom torture is necessary to save human souls: better torture the whole human race than loose one human soul.
The Roman emperor Nero represents statesmen, for whom individual lives are unimportant. They `torture in their prisons and plunge whole nations into the anguish of war.'
But worst of all are those who torture for the sake of scientific knowledge (like vivisectors) and who justify their practises by stressing that they are looking for remedies to prolong human life. Their theories end in pure racism: `We shall keep the lower races alive for experimental purposes. Just as we do with dogs now. So that by their torture we and our dear ones may live forever.'
The author confronts `ambition, egoism, greed and pride', on the one hand, with the conscience of Socrates and the eternal laws of Right and Wrong, and on the other hand with `the creative magic of feminity', symbolized by a young girl, Morwyn.

This book with its hellish scenes worth a Hieronymus Bosch, is a rare find.
Not to be missed.