BOOKS

THE KING MUST DIE

by Mary Renault, Pantheon, 1958, $4.50, 380 pp.

To give a plot resumé or attempt discussion of the general theme of this book would be a great mistake. The story is one that is convincing and exciting with a movement to it that carries the reader along in another time and place with complete transition.

The most important thing is that the element of homosexuality is handled in a manner befitting the setting of the book. The references are made in a matter-of-fact fashion, undisguised interpreted in no way. It exists .. it is a part of the culture.

The pattern of homophile literature is so bound to the "case history" technique that in a book of this sort it is almost possible to overlook the references. Indeed, we are so accustomed to the drawn out plot with sexual theme inherent that we may not easily see the significance of such a work as this, where the reader is led into a world where there are no problems or taboos and where the references are incidental and part of the "scenery."

Our "king" is involved in "bulldancing" in the court of the Minotaur after overthrowing a lot of Amazons and finding his birthright; suffering, achieving, etc. The author's grasp of the civilization of this period is excellent. The hero is not impossible. His deeds are thumping and his reasoning is entertaining.

For the student of ancient history or for the casual reader in search of a good novel, the book is recommended.

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The reader who is looking for the "gay" element will find it, but he will find it presented very calmly and this attitude may be pleasing to some and not sensational enough for others.

For a good evening in ancient Greece, Minos and near-around, curl up with this book and you will come away from it with a few ideas and maybe an interest for research. In any case, you will be entertained.

THE IMMORTAL

H. S.

by Walter Ross Simon & Schuster, N. Y., 1958 $3.50

This book tempts one, rather than to review it, to write instead an essay on man's inhumanity to man. It is not that The Immortal is unreadable; far from it. Author Ross' competent, swiftly-journalistic style, and the shock value he manages to pack into many of the book's pages, make one glad one has read it. Yet one puts away the book with a sense of nausea, as if one had just been confronted with the disjointed skeleton of a human being, but none of the living. coherent substance.

Mr. Ross has created a fictitious character. one John Preston, kills him before the outset of the story, and then brings him back to a kind of ghostly life through a series of posthumous sketches from the memories of persons who knew him. Johnny's bushy hair was black and his violent death was in a plane crash while flying his private craft; but except for these and a few other altered circumstances, one has no difficulty in associating Johnny Preston with the career, the personality, and the legend connected with the late James Dean,

From its opening note of advice that “This story is not about any real people, alive or dead." to the closing

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