Volume 44, Number 4 · March 6, 1997
Their Man On Earth
By J.M. Coetzee
The Discovery of Heaven
by Harry Mulisch, translated by Paul Vincent
Viking, 730 pp., $34.95
Let us imagine, says the Dutch novelist Harry Mulisch, that there exists a clique of celestial beings with an unlimited capacity to intervene in human affairs, gods as the Olympians were, powerful without being good; and that, since the seventeenth century of the Christian era, when a pawn of the infernal powers named Francis Bacon set in motion the inductive-scientific revolution, these beings have been waging a losing battle for the allegiance of mankind. In 1968, as a final measure, they plant an agent on earth. Now, in 1985, that agent is about to be brought into play. His orders will be to sever the last tie between God ('the Chief') and man, after which humankind must fare as best it can. 'From now on Lucifer has a free hand…. I really don't care anymore,' says the supervisor of the operation.
Review, 3606 words
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