The Key West citizen., 1952-11-15

Now most critics and readers
have no quarrel with the historical
novel as a genre. and they can be
done very well indeed!
Sienkiewicz the author of Quo
Vadis and Madame Zoe luxembourg
who wrote 1.-THE World Is Not
Enough" are two OF the rare ex-
ampleS of writer's who we're ac-
complished novelists and con-
scientious historians. They mana
ged to impose true creative gift
on an adequate job of research.
To this reviewer, who has never
read a Costain book before, the
author doesn't seem to succeed
very well as either a creative
novelist or as an historian.
He deals out double-harness plots
as he would double decks of cards,
the Grail theme purely white, the
Simon the Magician thread purely
black.
Mr.. Costain allegedly writes at
about 307 900 words per seven
months, and produces a heavy and
depreSsingly pallid Victorian style,
unrelieved by either the stately
prose and magnificent description
associated with the best novelists
of the 10th century.
Beginning a chapter seems di-
ficult for this man, whose struct-
ural diagrams are as painfully
clear as if had furnished blue
prints, especially chapters two and
seven. Costain does not seem to be
able to approach his prose simply.
The "Sun went down" becomes
"the bitterness of the solar assault
having abated"
Attempts to modernize his tan
giles disagreeably with archaic
words and phrases, as " keep
your toga clean" and Okhe!" as an
approximation of our okey. And
this reviewer would like to know
how Romans '4iace about and fight
off the peering men of Jerusalem.
At other times Costain uses OBJ
viously MoSlem words such as cal
iyyah", "wadi'', 'villayet' which
follow the early Christian era by
seven centuries.
AS an historian too, there seems
to be definite question regarding
Mr.. CoStain's accuracy and taste.
An immense amount of research
is purported to have gone into this
book, but the reviewer is not con-
vinced. The last sections dealing
with the hero'S visit to Rome is an
example. Compare the celebrated
description of Nero by Sienkiewicz
in "Quo Vadis'', pages 47-48, and
that by CoStain on his page 406.
The similarity is interesting, but
the superiority of the Pole, even in
the clumsy Curtin translation is
evident. Both descriptions of the
Emperor are given by Christian or
potentially Christian, innocents. In
one the climactic TRANSPORTATION of
the craven Greek. Chilo, denounces
Nero before the Emperor himself.
In the other the hitherto benighted
Syrian Greek hero Basil, does the
same thing in publicly admitting
his faith at an imperial bacchana-
liza. This similarity is unfortunate,
for it seems to this reviewer to be
CoStain's one worthwhile scene.
Also there seems to be certain other
simliarities between the two Lii
ithS Of these epics, and the En-
press Poppaea and the Magician's
assistant, Helena.
This reviewer also wonders If Mr..
Costain is aware how Objectionable
the Grail legend is, at least hiStori-
cally, to the Christian church. For
centuries the pagan basis of this
tale and of its Arthurian counter
parts, has been recognized. In the
words of a review of recent defin-
tive work on this subject by a
trained historian in France. these
| legends" ...........remained pagan and
Subversive. they evoke racial
as well as religious memories. I"
(Jean Marx, La Legende arthuri-
enne ct lie Graal, Paris, 1882 Rae
ial and social preiudices are in
evitably evoked by Costain where
he refers to the problem of rela-
tionS between Gentle and Jewish
Christians to relapsed Jews and to
the attitude of the apostles to-
ward rich Christians.
But one of these deficiencies
seem to have kept the book from
the best seller lists. The public has
definite need and liking Tor this
kind of thing. The past, artfully If
badly presented, is layer Of old
ghosts, destroyer of present ted
ium, and an assurance of splend-
/ id future. In this kind of affair, the
/ public creates the book, not the
author. The public gets what it
wants. and ii gets what is deserves.
| The Silver ChaIice Is a real pheno-
menon. not as an historical novel,
not as another glorious product Of \
brilliant author, but as an aH-time
catch-hasin for sales.
/ JUNIOR CHRISTMAS SELECTION
/ (JUST so STORIES by Rudyard
Kipling, new Illustrated edition by
( NTieolaS n,,hiiShad hv Garden rtfv