Alan Gordon ’81, A Death in the Venetian Quarter, Minotaur Books, 2002

Alan Gordon’s A Death in the Venetian Quarter is the third in a series of medieval mysteries exploring the further adventures of Feste the Fool, whom you may recall from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Feste, aka Theophilos, is a member of The Fools Guild, the 13th-century equivalent of Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with the mission to bring peace to and sustain prosperity in Europe and the Middle East. Feste is a clever man, schooled in the arts of self-defense, deception, and discretion. He is also multilingual, well traveled, and enjoys the rank in the jester of the guild. Married to Viola, here called Aglaia, he has been her hero, having solved the murder of her husband, the Duke of Orsino (you remember him from Twelfth Night don’t you?) in Gordon’s first novel, Thirteenth Night. He has been her master as she became an apprentice fool under him. Their first mission together for the guild, revealed to us in Gordon’s second mystery of the series, Jester Leaps In, took them to Constantinople to prevent a planned fourth Crusade, thwart the guild’s enemies, and stabilize the throne of Byzantium.

And that is where we find them in the third mystery—still in Constantinople. There, Feste is approached by the eunuch and power next to the throne Philoxenites, “a large, bald man, a source of much ridicule among the masses but ...; a wily, manipulative, ambitious schemer” who has a knack for thriving no matter who sits on the throne and now seeks Feste’s help in uncovering the murderer of an informant in the Venetian quarter. Feste and Aglaia undertake the assignment, and thus a well-plotted and delightfully Byzantine exploration of neighborhoods is launched—the high, low, and even underbelly of Constantinople—as the Venetian siege begins. You will eagerly pursue adventure with them as they pick their ways through the political baffles and conflicts that accompany the struggle to control the Byzantine throne. The plot unfolds through their alternating narratives; through their agency, the Guild manages to stave off the inevitable for a few more years:

Feste: When I look back at the Guild’s efforts to stop the Fourth Crusade, I see from the perspective of Time and old age that it was impossible. But that is not to say that we failed. A handful of men and women in motley staved off the initial launch and kept the sack of Constantinople at bay for three years ...; three additional years of life for thousands of people ...; given the choice between dying today and dying three years from now, which would you prefer? (p. 281)

The pleasure I have taken from Gordon’s series leads me to urge you to begin at the beginning. Appealing to my taste and interest in pursuing stimulating escape routes, magic is in all his pages. You will revel in the delicious mix of history, fantasy, and fiction plotted around crime solving and the higher aims of the guild to be the agency for the good—or at least the good order—of a growing Christian world order spreading from Venice to Constantinople.

I admire Gordon’s daring in creating a sequel to a Shakespearean play and applaud his discovery of this jester as a worthy central figure—to the ordinary imagination, an unlikely hero. I have always been attracted to Lear’s Fool but had overlooked Feste and so have been moved to revisit Twelfth Night and read all of Gordon as well. I am also struck by Gordon’s successful evasion of the formulaic, a peril to which all too many authors fall prey when they seek to exploit an initial success. Richly imaginative recreation of a world eight centuries gone, depiction of wit-ready protagonists, intriguing plot turns, lively dialogue, and enough history to suggest authenticity, taken altogether, spirit our author and his readers past the traps of familiarity and accurate anticipation onto paths of surprise, astonishment, and enlightenment.

Alan Gordon’s fourth novel in his Medieval Mystery series (“The Widow of Jerusalem,” St. Martin’s/Minotaur Books) series will be published in March 2003. You just have time to read the first three to whet your appetite for it. Put them on your holiday lists; by 12th night, you’ll be well on your way to a season of distraction as well as an enlivening focus.

—Maurice G. Eldridge ’61
Vice President for College and Community Relations and Executive Assistant to the President

OTHER BOOKS

Richard Bradshaw Angell ’40, A-Logic, University Press of America, 2002. According to Professor of Philosophy Hugh Lacey: “Modern logical theory presupposes that valid inferences derive from logical form rather than from the specific meanings of premises and conclusions of an argument. Brad Angell questions the fundamental logical forms that usually are identified—offering an alternative system of mathematical logic proposed as better fitting arguments that we actually deploy."

Valerie Worth (Balke) ’55; pictures by Natalie Babbitt, Peacock and Other Poems, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. This post-humous collection by the author—who “brilliantly employs all aspects of the poet’s craft,” according to The New York Times Book Review—includes 26 gems about peacocks, pandas, steam engines, onions, and icicles.

Robin (Smith) Chapman ’64, Arborvitae, Juniper Press, 2002. Two hundred copies of this six-part poem about “the tree of life” were originally handset and printed in May 2000. The Only Everglades in the World, Parallel Press, 2001. This collection of poems—by the author of four previous works—includes “Easy Days,” “Willingly,” and “The Dolphin’s Smile.”

Philip John Davies SP and Paul Wells (eds.), American Film and Politics From Reagan to Bush Jr., Manchester University Press, 2002. Focusing on the 1980s and 1990s, 11 authors from both sides of the Atlantic explore central themes in American politics and society through the films of that time.

W.D. Ehrhart ’73, The Madness of It All: Essays on War, Literature and American Life, McFarland & Co., 2002. “One of the great poets and writers of nonfiction produced by the Vietnam War,” according to The Nation, offers 43 essays on subjects including war, junk mail, the Internet, and small-town life.

Joshua Feinstein ’87, The Triumph of the Ordinary: Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema, 1949-1989, The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Drawing on archives and interviews with directors, actors, and state officials, the author explores the cinematic portrayal of East Germany, which changed because of national political developments and cultural trends such as television and rock ’n’ roll.

Stover Jenkins ’75 and David Mohney, The Houses of Philip Johnson, Abbeville Press Publishers, 2001. This work surveys the career of architect Philip Johnson and includes numerous plans, drawings, and photographs.

Joyce Milton ’67, The Road to Malpsychia: Humanistic Psychology and Our Discontents, Encounter Books, 2002. This work chronicles the impact of the human potential movement on American culture, with portraits of key proponents such as psychologists Timothy Leary and Abraham Maslow as well as anthropologists Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict.

Pamela Miller Ness ’72, The Hole in Buddha’s Heel, Swamp Press, 2002. This chapbook is a collection of 14 haiku and tanka inspired by Buddhist works of art.

Lewis Pyenson ’69 and Jean-François Gauvin (eds.), The Art of Teaching Physics: The Eighteenth-Century Demonstration Apparatus of Jean Antoine Nollet, Septentrion, 2002. This book explores Nollet’s life and work, focusing on the instruments that he designed and built to study physics.

Michael Seidman ’72, Republic of Egos, University of Wisconsin Press, 2002. This work focuses on the personal and individual experiences of common men and women in the Spanish Civil War.

Persia Walker ’78, Harlem Redux: A Novel, Simon & Schuster, 2002. Burdened by his own secret, a young lawyer returns to Harlem—where he explores both wealthy salons and crowded tenements of the poor—to understand his sister’s death.

Stephanie Dyrkacz Weidner ’98, Auch das Schöne, Silver Lake Publishing, 2002. Opening with “Nänie (Song of Lamentation), this work is in the voice of “a leader against the evil which threatens our worlds again,” continuing the fight for peace. Its sequel, Amazing Grace, Silver Lake, 2002, begins with “Amazing Grace: Traditional” and an introduction comprising the life stories of the “promised Messiah of Earth,” the “Freedom Fighters,” and “how we angered the Warriors for Peace.”

Melanie (Kuhlman) Wentz ’80,Once Upon a Time in Great Britain: A Travel Guide to the Sights and Settings of Your Favorite Children’s Stories, St Martin’s Press, 2002. The author, a longtime teacher and administrator who recently spent a year exploring England and Scotland with her family, offers a practical travel guide for discovering the real-life places that inspired classic children’s tales.

COMPACT DISK

Gary Albright ’75, Cactus Pear Music Festival: Live From the First Five, Cactus Pear Music Festival, 2002. This compilation of the festival’s first five seasons begins with Brahms and includes Mozart, Schubert, and Corelli.