ADAM RESURRECTED

As in his Himmo, King of Jerusalem (1969), this talented Israeli author sets his story of cosmic paradox in an institution, here a synthetic oasis (with Musak and gourmet meals) for disturbed World War II victims in modern Israel. Inmate Adam/Herbert Stein (Herbert is the externalized section of a former life) has the vision and powers of one possessed by a past transmogrification which had enabled him to exist. A former circus clown and concentration camp performer during which time he had reassured his family on the way to death, Adam had played ""dog"" to camp commander Klein. A raging genius and attractive (especially to nurse Jenny), Adam applies Iris savage consciousness to the peculiar adjustments of the other inmates, explores his own ""swindling"" ways between twin verities of ""dog"" and ""God,"" and Moses-like leads the others through the desert -- away from the God (who appears as Klein) of meaningless command. Sanity -- and diminishment -- finally come through identification with a child who believes himself to be a dog; both are cured. And Adam, now the ""ordinary man"" begins to lead a life without ""true joy as well as the awful sorrow that slashes the heart."" Kaniuk's style swings between extremes of sardonic humor and tragedy in a book which is concentrated, balanced and complemented with some lyric moments. In translation from the Hebrew.