NIGHT OF THE AXE

by William Mulvihill ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 8, 1972

As in his The Sands of Kalahari (1960), Mulvihill posits man's primal rage versus morality and reason in a sere, dangerous, and lovely landscape -- here the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada in wagon train days. The exhausted party, California bound, stops before a giant tree, taller than any they had seen, ancient and dominating. But a young boy, Lucas, dies as he attempts to climb it; and Dallas, the sadistic and brutish maverick of the group, driven by hatred of anything that ""made him look mean and puny,"" is soon at the tree with an axe. Playfully, then with a growing obsession, and finally in a mindless orgy, other men join Dallas at hacking away at the tree, and deaths, animal slaughter, and an attempted hanging follow. Benedict, the responsible leader, attempts to hold everyone together, but finally he leads the women, children, and saner men through a difficult, snow-clogged passage over the mountains and into a promised land of great, beneficent trees and warmth. Those who stayed behind perish and Dallas, all passion spent, stumbles back toward the desert. A dogged symbolism runs like resin throughout, but Mulvihill keeps his characters in line and moving.

Pub Date: March 8, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1972

Categories: FICTION