The Kingdom of the Wicked

In the reign of Domitian, Sadoc, a pessimistic and slightly unreliable narrator succumbing slowly to the ravages of disease, chronicles the history of the very first Christians, beginning with the resurrection and ascension of Jesus (which here takes place in 37, shortly before the death of Tiberius) and ending with the destruction of Pompeii in 79.

The enormous scope of this novel is almost Burgess's undoing. We follow the Apostles in their work against a background of the machinations of the Roman Empire, and we are taken into the boudoirs and minds of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian as they indulge their excesses, and deal with the Nazarene existential threat. If I were to find fault, it would be the occasional jump in the narrative, and odd patches of descriptive thinness that contrast with Burgess's usual rich detail. Together with what seemed to me a rushed ending, this suggests that Burgess might have been constrained by page space and/or time. That the novel was written as preparation for a screenplay (for the television series A.D., also released in 1985) lends weight to this speculation.

A longer novel would have done the story greater justice, and Burgess's extraordinary writing certainly had the power to grip the reader through many more pages than 379. In fact, to descend from his lofty, sparkling prose to a less extraordinary writer is akin to going cold turkey - withdrawal is experienced.

I will not attempt an analysis of the novel. Others do a far better job than me. I can judge neither the themes and conclusions that Burgess explores, nor his choice of fact to blend with his fiction. I judge The Kingdom of the Wicked a success by other criteria. A book such as this is to be savoured and absorbed.