This engrossing book is by a highly-regarded professor of literature at Boston University. It is very readable and remarkably free of lit-crit affectations and jargon. The author examines the theme of "what humankind is not meant to know" from Prometheus through "Paradise Lost," to Faust, Emily Dickinson, "Billy Budd," Frankenstein, human genetic research, and nuclear weapons. Shattuck's premise is that there is no such thing as a purely aesthetic experience: every piece of knowledge we obtain has a moral component and we must pay a price for its getting. We Latter-day Saints are aware that knowledge is gained "line upon line" by the spiritually mature and that some central mysteries are to be had only in the holiest of places. In contrast, Shattuck demonstrates that a "veil of ineffability" surrounds all human beings which allows us to be completely known only to God, and not to each other. This prevents us from becoming mere cogs or pawns in a deterministic world.

This is a profound but accessible book that gives us a lot to chew on. Two case histories (Shattuck's favorite method of investigation) can be described here. First, he believes that Albert Camus' "The Stranger" is widely misread as the story of an existential hero; Camus is actually telling us a cautionary tale about an affectless psychopath. I read this novel somewhat late, only after having read Jim Thompson's noir masterpieces so Shattuck's discussion stirred up a shock of recognition in me. Naively, I had only a little idea that Mersault was viewed by many as a nihilistic role-model; to me, he was a monster whose example was to be avoided. I'm glad Shattuck forcefully makes the same point. Second, Shattuck decries the lionization of the Marquis de Sade as a great writer. This mesmerizing chapter leads us from the avant-garde intellectuals who resurrected Sade in the early 20th century, to the 60's radicals who championed him as a "liberated" man, to horrific histories of the Moors murders in Britain and former Utahn Ted Bundy, who had surprising links to the terrible old aristocrat. Shattuck makes a gripping plea that Sade's work should be labeled as poison. Here the subject of censorship rears its ugly head. Personally, I detest censorship. But Shattuck makes one of the few convincing, coherent arguments for "considering limits as well as liberties" that I have ever read. He really made me examine my own prejudices in this area.

I'm afraid I haven't been able to really convey the satisfyingly spiritual feel of Shattuck's criticism. His advocacy of a faithful *a-gnostic-ism* (with its basis in humility before the mysteries of the universe) is moving to me, although I must disagree with much of it because it clashes with LDS concepts of continuing revelation. Nevertheless, this book is highly recommended to thoughtful Mormons concerned with issues of art vs. morality, and how we grow in knowledge. Is ignorance really bliss? Or does the arrogant human race behave like a child in possession of a loaded 9mm. pistol?

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               R.W. Rasband                    hsu481@freenet.mb.ca
               Heber City, UT       rrasband@mail.coin.missouri.edu
                       Lisa Kennedy Montgomery forever!
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