THE POOL OF VISHNU

This is the continuation -- and the concluding part of The Root and the Flower. Here once again, in this part authenticated, part imagined recreation of 18th century India, one finds the ""striving of spirit, the reasoning in higher metaphysical regions, the brooding sense of mystery"" which characterized the first book. Myers has an established reputation as artist-metaphysician. But as narrator, he proves a disappointment. This is a difficult book to appraise; it is less holding than its predecessor, the action on the physical plane is slow and tenuous. But as a probing of the spiritual, of the contemplative and philosophical, it is an unusual book. Myers attempts to reveal through Indian religious traditions, a conception of the individual soul that bears on ethical problems of today. The story is the least part, -- that of the rebellion of the two sons of Emperor Akbar and their conflicts based on issues and values which are timeless. The Guru, Prince Jail's teacher, is obviously a prototype of Gandhi. Myers' admirers will want this book; there are other readers who are groping in today's disillusionment for a philosophical and metaphysical approach, who may be a potential market. But, on the whole, the appeal is highly specialized.