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THE BORGIA TESTAMENT by Nigel Balchin

THE BORGIA TESTAMENT

By

Pub Date: Aug. 2nd, 1949
Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin

Report repeated from page 66 of the February 1st bulletin- as follows: ""The last testament of Cesare Borgia, which does away with much of the gilded glamor of the period, the romanticism of the legend, and in a sense- the fascination of that figure. For in this first person narrative, little of personal- or even human- interest is admitted, and Mr. Balchin's Borgia is seen largely as a power politician, with an ambition to give Italy a temporal unification which will replace the dying papacy. Only in his relationship with Lucrezia, and a very shaded suggestion of his love for her, is there any question of emotional involvement on the part of Cesare. From boyhood on, Cesare's career is traced; he disposes of Lucrezia- and her husbands- to suit his political progress; he marries the princess Charlotte to further his ambitions; he starts the military campaigns which eventually end in failure- and death... The impersonal, almost impassive, tenor here lessens the appeal for a popular audience.