King Solomon is Gary’s final booknand the last of the four he began publishingnin the late 1970’s under thenpseudonym of Emile Ajar in one of thengreat literary hoaxes of a century whennwriters seem to have lost their sense ofnfun. The most delightful irony of thenwhole affair was the ignorance andnarrogance of the critics who pompouslynannounced that the Ajar novels werentoo good to have been written by RomainnGary,nThe title figure is Solomon Rubenstein,nan old man of 84 who has made alargenfortune as the “King of the Readymade”ntrousers and who now uses hisnriches to help the unfortunate throughnhis S.O.S. Volunteers (a telephonenhelp-line) and various kinds of anonymousngifts and services distributednthrough the narrator, a cabdrivernnamed Jean. Jean, however, lives by hisnwits and takes whatever time and opportunityneast his way, including thenparched and love-starved body of a frail,npitiful, former dance-hall singer. Guidednby neither conscience nor values,nJean is a materialistic self-seeker. Justnonce he senses something better:nHope is the thing that mattersnmost when you’re young, andnwhen you’re old, too, to be ablento think back on it. You cannlose everything, both arms,nboth legs, your sight, yournspeech, but so long as you stillnhave hope, nothing’s lost, youncan carry on.nBut King Solomon isn’t very satisfying;nthe plot is thin, the charactersnanemic, and the theme unfocused. Thenbook is the work of an aging and dispiritednman whose triumphs are behindnhim and whose despair has skewed hisnartistic vision.nMax Frisch is another writer whonexplores the fashionable worldweariness.nNow in his 70’s, he continuesnto write about the problems ofnpersonal identity and how people areninfluenced by each other and eventsnas reflected in racial prejudice (particularlynanti-Semitism), tyranny, andninjustice.nThe protagonist of Bluebeard is anphysician named Felix Schaad, who hasnbeen on trial for murdering his sixthnwife, a call girl. Although he has beennacquitted, his life has fallen apart. Desertednby his former patients, he playsnbilliards, feeds the swans, walks endlessly,nlooks at old photographs, and travelsnto the Far East, but nothing gives himnrelief from the nagging voices that comenback to him from the prosecution andndefense counsel, his first five wives, hisnBOOKS IN BRIEFnThe Devastated Vineyard by Dieterich von Hildebrand; Roman Catholic Books; P.O. Boxn255, Harrison, NY. A spirited and straightforward critique of “the falsification of thenChristian spirit.” Hildebrand does not mince words. In this indictment of modernist errors,nhe does not hesitate to refer to “open battle between Satan and Christ.”nThe Laws of the Covenant: An Exposition of Exodus 21-23 by James B. Jordan; Institute fornChristian Economics; Tyler, TX; $17.50. In explaining how to use the Bible as a blueprintnfor “a Christian Republic, where God’s law rules,” the staunchly Protestant author assuresnreaders that “Biblical law does not require the execution of those who hold to other religions.nOnly if they actively promote their anti-Christian views . . . does the Bible teach that actionnshould be taken against them.” Kein Angst, Jews, Confucianists, Moslems, Deists. . . .nfriends, and his dead parents.nIn his morose broodings on good andnevil, Schaad seems to be intended as thenrepresentative modern man, caught in anuniverse he hasn’t made, cannot understand,nand cannot control. The onlynway out is to attempt suicide, as Schaadndoes.nEndo’s novel. Wonderful Fool, wasnwritten in the late 1950’s and first translatedninto English in 1974; this editionnis a reprint. Considered by many to benJapan’s best modern writer, Endo is anCatholic novelist who has repeatedlynexplored the religious dimensions ofnhuman experience. The WonderfulnFool of the title is a homely, awkward,nnaive young Frenchman named Gastonn(nicknamed Gas) Bonaparte, a descendantnof Napoleon, who comes to Japannto visit but is quickly drawn to thendowntrodden ignored by his hosts andntheir circle; he befriends a stray mongrel,na prostitute, a fortune-teller, andnfinally, a dying criminal. At the end hendisappears, apparendy dead, but as thennarrator tells us, “One day he’ll comenlumbering down again from that far-offnazure country to take upon his backnonce more the sorrow of people likenthese.”nGaston’s love is in strong contrast tonthe world which, early in the book,nreeks of death: “It was not just the smellnof the dog, but a smell more universaln—a smell that in the present-day worldnsurrounded men everywhere.” Hisndeath, however, brings the promise ofnsome kind of renewal as his friendsnwatch a bird on the wing: “A lonelynegret was flying across the rice fields andngracefully climbing into the blue sky.”nThe most appealing aspect of WonderfulnFool is Endo’s strong affirmationnof the goodness of life and the worth ofnspirituality and endurance in a worldn(in this case, Japan) which has sold itselfnout to a stark, blatant, and indifferentnmaterialism. Gaston trusts everyone henmeets, but for his outreaching love henreceives only harassment, threats, ridicule,nand death. But his death works anchange in one of his Japanese friends,nwho begins to shed his irresponsibility.nThe story is obviously a parable innwhich Gaston is a Christ-figure. Patentlynreligious novels such as WonderfulnFool often receive little attention fromncritics. Yet a religious perspective offersnincalculable advantages to the seriousnwriter. As Flannery O’Connor observed:n”The greatest dramas naturallyninvolve the salvation or loss of the soul.nWhere there is no belief in the soul,nthere is very little drama.” These threennovels illustrate O’Connor’s point.nEndo sees a touch of eternity in everynhuman act, but Gary and Frisch seenmuch less. As one of Gary’s charactersnputs it, “mortality is a kind of cul-desac,”na dead end from which there is nonescape except death or sadness. ccnRobert Steemma is professor of Englishnat the University of Utah.nMOVING?nLET US KNOW BEFORE YOU GO.nTo assure uninterrupted delivery of Chroniclesnof Culture, please notify us in advance. Sendnthis form with the mailing label from yournlatest issue of Chronicles of Culture to: SubscriptionnDepartment, Chronicles of Culture, P.O.nBox 800, Rockford, Illinois 61105.nNAME.nADDRESSnCITYnnnSTATE. .ZIPnJANUARY 1986 / 37n