Kirkus Reviews QR Code
GOD WAS BORN IN EXILE by Vintlia Horia

GOD WAS BORN IN EXILE

By

Publisher: St Martin's Press

The 1960 Concourt. In translation by Lytton Solls, is a poetic- religious novel, very freely based on Ovid's last years in exile. Lonely among the fierce Getae, he believe in one God, and the bleak, bitter countryside, Ovid at first writes letters to , seeking . But gradually he acquires friends and two mistresses (an aging and a young girl) and travels among outlying cities, where he sees bloody minor lions, and meets Romans who have deserted the Empire rather than serve as soldiers. hese experiences, and an encounter with a priest, turn him toward the idea of one God and and his friends eagerly trade new rumors of a Messiah. Other violent and striking stories, woven into Ovid's thoughts, memories, and new awareness of people, serve to him from the crumbling Empire with its dying gods and ideas. Historically, this anti-tes much later changes (Ovid died in 17 A.D. before Christ had started teaching, or Rome fell), but as telescoped and poetic truth, the book is powerful and convincing. The poet of secular love, who finds in old age and exile, a greater love, is a universal and appealing figure- and the calmly lovely writing makes this a powerful, gentle, moving book. It has had an impressive press abroad.