DARKNESS VISIBLE

by Norman Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Steve Lavers, the protagonist of this novel set in Algeria, is the mouth-piece of the author's critical comprehension of the basic forces underlying the Algerian struggle, his perception of local custom and color, his cynical yet resigned outlook, his ability to transpose political realities into terms of human existence. The oil company in which Lavers holds a respected executive position is manned by several nationalities, and has finally, after five fruitless years of toil and discouragement, struck oil. At this point, however, political uprisings erupt between the colons and the Arabs in a series of destructive incidents and savagely sinister intrigues. A local brothel keeper, with his wife and one of his protegees, is brutally murdered, ostensibly by the local Arabs. It becomes obvious that the murderers involved here were the same colons -- members of a frenchified Mafia -- who instigated and perpetrated an attack on the oil company, burned the Arab village, and disrupted Col. Latour's carefully erected truce. The usual official reaction prevails among the French authorities -- a conscious closed-eyed ignoring of the troublemakers. Tiring of the identical answer to his constant question in the face of all this (""And are we going to give in?""), Lavers finally realizes its futility in this muddled imposition of ""civilization and progress"", and decides to leave Algeria. Lewis' clear to clipped descriptions are original and arresting and his novel is of far more than routine fictional interest as were his earlier books- A Single Pilgrim-The Volcanoes Above Us- etc.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1960

Categories: FICTION