The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 2 March 1998
by Pär Lagerkvist
In Renaissance Italy, a dwarf is a novelty to be possessed by princes. Here, one narrates his own bitter life in the court of a nobleman he worships. But this man is extremely mean spirited, declaring that dwarfs are a race apart from, and superior to, other humans. He looks upon human activity as an outsider, and with fierce hatred for the hypocritical lives led by the nobility and by the peasantry. He merely hates them all, taking joy only in bloodshed. He worships the prince, though, and his warlike behavior. The prince acts with what the dwarf percieves is noble disdain for human debasement. Even in failure, the dwarf maintains faith in the prince. One wouldn't want to explore the metaphors of this book too deeply, but his small-mindedness and anonymity in the court are surely reflected in his physical size and mistreatment at the hands of princes and princesses. Despite this, the book is rich with biting wit and notable observations. Though fictional, thinly disguised historical characters, such as Leonardo da Vinci, appear. An engrossing, if vaguely repulsive, experience.
(Pär Lagerkvist was awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize for literature.)
Also by Lagerkvist: [Barabbas]