ON A BALCONY; SEGAKI

by David Stacton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1959

An interesting debut of an American-born author who has been first published in England brings two of a three panel study here in the same month, under different publishers. On A Balcony is devoted to the 14th century and the Pharaoh Ikhnaton, his sister-wife Nefertiti, the sculptor Tutmose, and the rivalry his religion of Aton brought to Egypt and its then current cult of Amon: Segaki is also 14th century but Japanese and concerned with the abbot Muchaku Hojo's flight from his monastery while the Samurai are invading. Both depend not on the story implicit in a historical novel but upon the study of the individual of that time and of the nature of things as they impinge upon that individual's awakening from conditioned thought. Balcony in presenting Ikhnaton's imposition of a new religion upon those who look on him as a god, has perhaps a greater vitality; Segaki, in Muchaku's physical, symbolical and mystical adventurings, seems shadowier with incidents along the way achieving a brilliance against the dimness, and the publisher's subtitling it ""A Zen Novel"" is a bid for current attention. Both however are distinctive in their fastidious styling, which if demanding also rewards, for the facts, and their interpretations, of the age are in striking juxtaposition to the mental and philosophical agilities of the central characters. Original and calling for a reader interest of sharpened appreciation.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: London House & Maxwell; Pantheon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1959

Categories: FICTION