BOOKS

For the homosexual who adheres to a religion forbidding the exercise of his capacity to love, nothing can be more excruciating than trying to reconcile the two. In both literature and life, this problem has resulted in maladjustment and self-debasementmany times to the point of suicide.

The only book I have encountered which does justice to the breadth and intensity of this problem, is one by Marcel Guersant, entitled Jean-Paul (Paris, Les Editions de Minuit, 1952). As far as I have been able to determine, this book has not been translated, which is a pity considering that in a little more than 500 pages, it holds something for everyone. This is a powerful book and one which will be useful as a psychological "Do-ityourself" handbook.

The author opens his story with the actual status of Catholicism in Central Europe as exemplified in the hero. Jean-Paul lives his life as he wishes while remaining nominally a Catholic, and we follow him as he conducts his pitiful search in the pissotieres and trams of Paris-all on the possibility.

M. Guersant uses a remarkable literary device to reveal the character of his hero. In a series of revues de nuit while trying to fall asleep, Jean-Paul reveals his youth and the incidents which have led to his inversion. Most readers will be familiar with this experience, but perhaps not to the extent of lying awake until dawn as Jean-Paul sometimes does.

Becoming unhappy with this situation and his relationship with his fa-

ther, Jean-Paul tries to find solace in his religion. Enlisting the help of a priest, Jean-Paul meets a man whose devastating insight will probe each reader as mercilessly as it does his own soul. Here, the author displays his nice (in the profound sense of the word) mind, piercing appearances to explore the intricacies of temptation and circumstance.

Though sincerely trying to maintain his equilibrium, Jean-Paul yields to the temptation to ride the tram, and there he meets Phillipe, his enfant de reve. This makes a complete shambles of his resolution, and in this condition, he has the misfortune to lose the confidence of his father and to be disowned by him.

In a delightfully-wrought weekend spent by Phillip and Jean-Paul, we feel each hurt as the hero tortures himself. We watch him fall, falter and regain his balance. With tremendous irony, Jean-Paul finally forsakes Phillipe just as another had left him years before.

With success so close, Jean-Paul falls again and returns to the Parisian pissotieres and trams. Steadily and patiently, however, the priest labors with Jean-Paul toward the book's climax and denouement, which will cause the reader to feel that his very soul has been ripped out from the toe nails up. The story is given added impetus by an epilogue which consists of a letter from the priest to JeanPaul's father, in which the finishing touches are given to our hero's char-

acter.

Throughout this work, the author

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