NERO: - By Desider Kostolanyi. (Gollancz. 6d.)- Distinguished foreign novelists seem
to spend their spare time inscribing eulogies on each other, eulogies afterwards described by publishers as "tremendous." Thomas Mann advises us to find in this historical novel by a Hungarian author, "utter unexpectedness" and "wild originality." Nobody who is at all conversant with the history and the legend of Nero will be surprised by the book. It is, however, quite a remark- able novel which attempts to explain Nero's wilder acts as expressions of the diseased vanity of a very minor poet. Still, it is amorphous. A series of highly-wrought scenes is held together by hurriedly imparted summaries of the events between them; so that the story lacks proportion and per- spective. The blond amiable boy who is horrified at the result of old Claudius' request for a drink becomes too suddenly the young _drunkard stumbling in unseemly brawls. Seneca, it seems, really started Nero on his career of infamy by praising his bad verses when it was still safe to tell the truth. Hence incidents like the murder of Britannicus. Poppcea is a lively figure • and the brief idyll of the flute-player Doryphorus is touching. But none of the characters has true artistic con- sistency. As to Nero, one feels that in his later years he was more of a madman but less of a fool. Perhaps the translation does injury to the author's style : it is improbable that he Puts into Roman lips, expressions like : "Go right ahead," and" She won't stand for arrogance.' . The most original thing about this book is the fact that it dispenses with persecuted Christians.
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