Discovery of Heaven (spoilers galore)

Ya Sam takoitov at hotmail.com
Thu Aug 3 10:11:24 CDT 2006


I just finished reading Mulisch's book and have to admit that it left an 
ambiguous impression. On the one hand I really liked the author's erudition, 
his ability to link disparate threads of the narrative, and the  idea of the 
Citadel (a very Borgesian construct) especially really appealed to me, made 
me aware of  Piranese's  'Carceri' that I came to like a lot. However, the 
main premise of the whole huge conspiracy doesn't hold much water, in my 
view. In the end, the novel seems to be self-deconstructing, as Mulisch 
transgresses the rules he's established himself. How did it all begin? The 
celestial creatures have to influence human beings and circumstances on the 
earth in order to get back the tablets of covenant as they appear to be 
unable to retreive them directly from that church, I mean just lift them to 
heaven. Therefore the complex process of getting two different men to meet, 
etc. so that the divine agent is born. That boy embarks on the crusade of 
getting those tablets, stooping to robbery in Rome, as, apparently, the only 
means of getting his hands on them. However, when it becomes evident that 
such a feat is impossible in Jerusalem, uzi-toting gunmen and all, presto! 
Citadel-ex-machina sucks in the godsent fellow, he gets to the right place 
without any hindrance and the divine letters rise back to the original 
'sender'. Couldn't they have done it from the very beginning? Maybe I'm 
missing something here, so I would appreciate any comment or 
counter-argument from those who've read the book.

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