LE COLONIAL

Eighteenth-century French Jesuits bring the gospel, and more, to the future kingdom of Viet Nam.

Second-novelist Nguyen (The Tapestries, 2002; a memoir: The Unwanted, 2001) offers a Conradian tale in which three internally troubled but well-meaning idealists set off to preach the gospel to the villagers of Annan. In Avignon in 1771, Monsignor Pierre de Behaine, a veteran of previous Asian missions, readies a team of Jesuit priests and nuns for what appears to be a peaceful journey to the Far East. Arrogant and restive but coolly assured, he becomes intrigued with a feverish young artist, François Gervaise, who resists the Monsignor’s attempts to force him into confession. After some pursuit across a grim, plague-ridden countryside, the Monsignor cures Gervaise of cholera and promises redemption for his emotional turmoil (in a duel, Gervaise killed a rival for the affections of a fickle serving girl, then fled his village) by bringing Gervaise into the Jesuit order. A bit later, in Paris, teenaged Henri Monange watches his father, a humble coal seller, freeze to death and, after a sexual imbroglio, abandons his mother, hoping to find his fortune by heading south to the booming town of Marseilles. There, he runs into Gervaise, now a priest, who persuades the boy to become a novice. Though the numerous cruelties Henri has seen or suffered have shattered his faith in God, François’s kindly sincerity appeals to him, and he joins the group heading for Annan. Once all are there, the Monsignor reveals that he’s been made a bishop and will lay the political groundwork for the annexation of Annan as a French colony. François, appalled at the violence and brutality underlying seemingly idyllic village life, becomes fascinated with the similarities between Christianity and Buddhism, while Henri throws off his faith for a stronger, defiant sense of himself.

An intriguing epic of ethical, moral, and spiritual conflicts from an emerging talent worth watching.