From Library Journal
Having treated Tsar Nicholas II in Searching for the Emperor ( LJ 11/1/88), Italian poet/novelist Pazzi now makes a well-wrought effort with the Tsar's consumptive younger brother, Grand Duke George. Scorning the simultaneous waning of the Romanov dynasty and the 19th century, George fantasizes about ruling a new kingdom--with his "princess," his cousin Helen--of the long-lived Georgians who are subduing time and death. But mirrors show George his sick, weak body, and he feels a prisoner of history. His fever causes a merging of the living and the dead as he dreams of the past (Napoleon and Louis XVI) and future (the "dragon Stalin emerging from Georgia"). The novel's end, though fantasy indeed, underscores Pazzi's typically Mediterranean metaphysical pondering.
- Kenneth Mintz, formerly with Bayonne P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Kenneth Mintz, formerly with Bayonne P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Language Notes
Text: English, Italian (translation)
