THE PARAGON

by John Knowles ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 13, 1970

The paragon is more of a prodigy, Lou Colfax, and also one of John Knowles' minor young men of good will and resilient if unresolved direction. Lou has a high esp potential, a photographic memory and a scientific flair -- he's thinking of oceanography to save the world. He also has a thin lien on reality and is easily ""startled, pristine, astonished, threatened."" After a love affair with Charlotte (she looks and sounds like Carrie Snodgress) who had wanted to have a baby and went on to have one without him (was it his?) Lou does a stint in the Marines, comes back to Yale where after a re-exposure to Charlotte, and the baby, he's left wondering whether he's thrown his life away. This all takes place in the '50's where more than a hair's length away there's a little protest, at the John Reed Club. It's all faintly droll and as deliberately ingenuous as Lou if you can accept him for what he is -- a fool-saint with a high humanity quotient. This may be another naive assumption.

Pub Date: Jan. 13, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION