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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