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Show 21 Ik 'j ' Vp ? r ..'fc'w v k'v- - d jtjm- S."UV-- i Like sands through J V V; ' Wsintlv toning: Honns Ai. tawromof liKnxlaees hcpnaing crawo :,.; top,si&9$ iMKcaion with '; bMfr oAldiniqiic sod decukd arwa to tupirr-nc- p : 3I3E the houpglass ' r... ; Ifjol Fred Nietzsche Wert around to review Simoii Mower's The Gospel of Judas (Littlcv Brown, S24.95, ISBN 0316097500; audio, S24.98, ISBN 1586210602), he'd probablysay withi nod lo fellow philosophei Yogi Berra See? Whatd.I tell you? Its eternal recurrence all ; v pveragainr I don't mean to poke fen at Mawer's excellent novel, but merely to indicate that Nietzsches notion Of eternal recur-- v rence," as commonly conceived, can profitably be used to view itThere may be other ways, but the book has about it that ia is lot of what Nietzsche called the "eternal hourglass of existence of dust" wife and and a over "turned Over mete it, grain you being '' Further, in Hie Gospel of Judaa, time is not linear, like the idea of time that ; has come down to us from Aristotle through liKieeyChristian teaching, but cu cular and cyclical, like Nietzsche's time. The novel shifts fluidly back and forth from World War II to fee present day; aid it definitely has much to dq :V: ' v with Christianity. ; Leo Newman is a Roman Catholic priest, British but living in Rome. A renowned scholar of biblical-er- a texts, he is summoned to Jerusalem to deciscroll that a found appears to have been written by Judas Iscariot, pher recently the betrayer of Christ Leo quickly senses feat the scroll is genuine and literally: V,; " .' devastating to Christianity. embarks 00 his first sexual affair, At feis tirjK Leo, who is apparently 50-is"hie w6man, named Madeleine, is Catholic and fee wife .of a British diplomaL She is one element in the potent sense of womanhood" feat informs Leos life. Indeed, the novel gives off a muted sensation of maif more than feat, of fee ; v : 'ancient fear dial women ane.iiiot only sex-uai predators but the very occasion for .. wm : con-tinual-ly 1 ,K.:,;-yj- y.- t . ;iV-:-'.- Hunt lor to Burn Kolph tzzard rckhnuM vi-Fwvharjd xaWU of 1948 jouJorv 10 mmcrioui cream. ley in noniiem Indii in icudi L'1 ' . 'I' ' 1 : t :. a tj 4 ';,. r '. . '! toin.95 :.' . Utdan PwtttotgCravM SinnI Books . . .'.in AtOriki of to Auauin ftorWSBe .' r 1 Euciiuliiy f in man . ii&jroiogicil Oflutukipi of the fartteutt WuiUrtnui phji yy r.f 7: '' loony ..., findan toiiUiingCravin ' 4 y I ' 4. too 4 I.- sin. ' Book ; '': - . iyy-i- . ,i - ... . . .A leitmotif of repetUioh and reflection accompanies' fee timefctcmal nctmenw ... ' sffair reflects themeThe the aiTairthal fee priest's mother, Girtchen, also s Guholic and the wife of a (German) diplomat, has withan Italian JeW named; ' V. ' " Francesco during World War If VC This leitmotif, in turn, is entwined with fee Jmfe's and Leo obsession with word origins and names. For. instance. Ycrushalem (Jerusalem), the author tells us. is not fmm shalom, fee Hdxew for peace. but from the Canaanite god. Shalem. ' "hilc these explanations are a treat to come across, they amount to more than mere intellectual izing. Leo's woridng life is one of words Had he always feared feat as soon as he teased at the words. feat made up his faith, fee. ' whole fabric would unravel?" and, as he tells Madeleine atone of their first .. meetings, "In this business you always start wife the name. Names always had . . ,.:y ol f n nonp raw wpiQFW fli Ttw AuuAiopjphr of Mxritcw Henan MaHhtw Htmoiy' .1 . . .. ; S ; : ; ' r Afinthdcaiuat.of)irUjeqdiiaio inadiffli mIi die Nanb Me. s I. ' ' ; : v ; ni .'' t I .'U . I?jis3s ' :y . H pfw. 1455 I I 24.00 t IwirihleCStotoe yty a J r I (anM o d An of Fathering tram thctmr ' JackNtnmh '. ' Slii guide in cflcftiwr fathering isteafc dcitoa Irwogf Way e paJ father m anecdote end iBegOnn qf the game. t SlndkSW. i'- ; la ; ; ?' '" Ihuy V J . ' - i Nupcial:, ' V GwaNupadi , Um 4aia CtnqdeuTm Plinetv ni Bade : i . , htn fcobini Lang ' I" . ". :.'. - twM'. . . Panda . . Thome .4f ijr guttle nulccv k city lit 4en ertd tagmiare nodding. chtxlduti end iufumuitiw M) diflinnn cm- - ' tlktiitn. budget ing. fltntvi. '. tda, gift itgMry, intriie--) .e , : Paper. 1355 Books By Pamela, Ud. INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS GROUP 814 North Franklin Street ; Chicago, ilinoii. 60610 ' 100.888741 Fu . Frontdesklg) ipgbook.com symbol-droppin- . . : . tinb, phitwtgntphv end (litre. : ' ;.vmeanings.; Darn right they did, and do, Madeleine is a form of Magdalene, Mary Magdalene, fee reformed and repentant whore of the. New Testament So is , Magda, an artist and whore wife whom Leo later shares an apartment - A priest of Christ who take up with two women named for the woman who, .aside from Mary, is most associated wife Christ As Leo work at translating the, scroll, one of them, Madeleine, stands figuratively at his shoulder, just as "her namesake had been there at fee discovety of the opened tomb. All of this would be mere g and parading of knowledge if the author did. not make it so much of a piece. Tightly constructed! not the right term: try seamless. Mawer, author of Mendel 't Dwarf and several other novels, has produced tightly woven, brilliantly matching narrali ve lhreads that make up a splendid doth. And.foc good measure, the scroll mystery adds a nice feriller clement V:' ; ; V .; Like all good modern aulliors Mawer let us make of it wiuit live will. "Was., it here," Leo wonders as he pores over the papyrus. Hint the hisuny of Christianity would finally come to an endT.Jhe weight of fee book's evidence wbuld seem to point to one answer yes. However, also, like all good modem authors, Mawers tme concern is not the cosmic and infinilie, but the immediate and human. The priest of Christ, not '. Christ, animates this hook. In the final page we learn that toward the end of the war Gretchcn taken, the name Mrs. Newman" names, after all, always had meanings and that : Leo, the child with which she is pregnant is "a kind of resurrection He is also, you will discover, Z kind of eternal recurrence.. W 7 - ; . . , ' 3ia.3j7.s98s www.ipgbook.com- . - Roger K. Mitler is a free fame writer in Wisconsin. 14HAY2001 zz |