THE KEYS OF ST. PETER

by Roger Peyrefitte ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Controversy over this deliberately shocking book is sure to create a certain amount of interest. But religious controversy is not always healthy. Catholics- at least publicly- will decry the tongue in cheek, and at the same time scholarly, handling of matters theological, traditional, symbolic. The most successful figure in the story of a naive young seminarist, Victor Mas, assigned to a post in Rome, is his patron, Cardinal Belloro, to whom little the Church has to offer remains sacred. The Pope is revealed as more human than saint; the basic tenets of Church polity, in particular perhaps, the matter of indulgences, is approached with a cynical and wicked humor. The Cardinal is irresistible, and Victor, under his tutelage, loses many of his illusions, and finds that he is still a man first, a priest second. The story bogs down too often in the minutiae of argument, as members of the Cardinal's household chart the prescribed course of thinking in meticulous detail only to have their pattern destroyed by a quick-witted, oblique barb on the part of the Cardinal. Inevitably, Victor falls in love -- in a most adolescent way. And the denouement is inevitable, as the apprenticeship nears its end. This has been, we are told, sensationally successful in France. I wonder whether the story, with its subtle and often brilliant undertones, will carry to a more staid American audience. I'm keeping fingers crossed.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Criterion

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1956

Categories: FICTION