TESTAMENT

The life of Jesus, most recently fictionalized by Norman Mailer and Jim Crace, now imagined by the Italian-born Canadian author of a highly praised autobiographical trilogy (Where She Has Gone, 1998, etc.).

Ricci tells the familiar story in four separate narratives that echo (even as they depart from) the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The first is that of Yihuda of Qiryat (a.k.a. Judas Iscariot), a member of an underground political movement dedicated to liberating Palestine from Roman occupation—and a self-appointed gadfly who challenges the Nazarene (here named “Yeshua”) frequently and vigorously. Miryam of Migdal (Mary Magdalene) next testifies to Yeshua’s charisma as teacher and leader, and as her lover. Yeshua’s mother Miryam, whose quiet testimony evokes her unconventional son’s meditative and abstracted temperament, also reveals that he is the child of her rape by a Roman military officer. Finally, the shepherd Simon of Gergesa (who has no counterpart in the traditional gospels) offers commentary on the aforementioned conflicting versions, while offering his own skeptical eyewitness account of Yeshua’s crucifixion and resurrection. This complex portrayal of an only-too-human Jesus will undoubtedly offend many, both for its occasional anachronisms (the use of the word “solidarity” in a political context, for instance, seems jarringly contemporary) and for its reductive treatment of what are for many unquestionable miracles. This Jeshua is strictly a healer (for example, he sets bones). Ricci’s Lazarus was not dead, only unconscious. And Yeshua’s “rise” from his tomb was accomplished by followers who bribed the soldiers guarding it. On the other hand, Ricci’s spare, eloquent prose renders Yeshua’s simple determination to deliver his people from foreign oppression, and especially his embattled and agonizing final days, with impressive clarity and power.

Persuasive evidence that a writer as gifted as Ricci can tackle almost any subject and succeed with it. Better than Mailer, not as good as Crace.