parallel until the first disappearance has taken place and then provides a new and melodramatic conclusion which is not implausible. Together the two books furnish a clue to the constant juxtaposition and intermingling of modern society in all its facets and contradictions; together they act as a key to what has become a tangle of politics, pressures and passions. As works of art they are infinitely inferior to those urban and delightful novels of Roger Peyrefitte, DIPLOMATIC DIVERSIONS and DIPLOMATIC CONCLUSIONS, but as a footnote to the crise de nerfs which succeeded the second world war they are invaluable. M. Peyrefitte is a complete joy. He writes with a cynicism unalloyed by such expediencies as patriotism or its substitutes, by pretense or by what might be called the formalities of fiction. Whether he is concerned with pre-war Athens or occupied France and Germany, he is always aware of the niceties of scandal and the verities of diplomatic illusion. He is often shocking, but only because he is never shocked. One reads M. Peyrefitte as one breakfasts on strawberries in champagne: one is aware of the elegance and the special occasion-one pretends the fare is customary.

M. B.

ALLEH LULLEH COCKATOO and other poems by Storm De Hirsch

Brigant Press

2.00

An exciting new book of verse for the poet lover-rich in content, and powerful -exquisite and challenging symbolism-esthetic and sensuous. A beautiful addition to any library.

G. G.

THE CHARIOTEER, by Mary Renault (Longmans Green & Co., London) (Available in the U.S.A. exclusively from The Cory Book Service, 799 Broadway, New York 3, N.Y.).

In the first place, please do not be misled by the sex of the author: this is a frank and perceptive novel about male homosexuality that no male author could improve. Now, the number of novels dealing with homosexual love is so pitifully small that to say that "The Charioteer" is one of the finest would be almost meaningless. Let us say instead that, if there were hundreds of excellent novels on the subject, "The Charioteer" would still be among the best.

The story takes place in an English military hospital shortly after Dunkirk and involves a triangle composed of a convalescing soldier who slowly becomes aware of his homosexuality, a deeply religious and gentle but far from spineless or effeminate consciencious objector, and an officer who, at least since adolescence, has accepted himself as a homosexual and has lived his life accordingly. The entire subject is handled with remarkable insight and with perfect taste. There are no hints, no double meanings; everything that should be there is there in black and white-and without recourse to pornography.

Even if the book were not so extremely well written, so sensitive, and so understanding, two points would make it unusual and most welcome: it has a logical and meaningful "happy" ending (I'm willing to bet that they actually do live happily ever after!) and the reader is spared the obscenely detailed heterosexual scenes that apparently are de rigueur in novels about homosexuals.

ANTHONY FLAMEN

17