As told by the central character himself, a distinguished British writer in his eighties"Earthly Powers" is the life story of Kenneth Marcel Toomey- from the First World War to the final years of sun drenched idleness in Malta. A homosexual unable to reconcile his nature with the teachings of the Church, Toomey opted as a young man for a life of exile and loneliness- first in the Paris of James Joyce and Ezra Pound and later in Hollywood at the height of its glamour and corruption.
His travels, his assignments and, indeed, the affections of his heart, bring him face to face with the most savage manifestations of evil in the modern world; the murder by witchcraft of a beloved friend in Malaya; the brutalities of Mussolini's fascists; a Nazi death camp; mass suicide in the name of love in California. Breathing the stench of Buchenwald, Toomey sees finally that evil comes man man himself, it is inborn; for his brother-in-law Carlo, the saintly but sybaritic priest destined to be Pope, it is a force at large in the world that must be challenged constantly in all its guises.
This is a stunning book, I first read it about fifteen years ago and loved it then but knew there was a lot more to get from it. It reads just as fresh the second time but I picked up the subtleties and the humour.
Don't treat too many of even the historical "facts" as facts as Burgess fits things to suit himself as his right as the creator.
This book was a Booker finalist in 1980 against William Golding's "Rites of Passage". Golding won. I've read both books and all I can say is Golding had the fix in, it was a travesty that Burgess was overlooked.
Burgess is best known for "A Clockwork Orange" ,which is if people are honest virtually unreadable unless you have seen the movie, this however, is immensely readable and a fantastic novel.
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