Pilate's Wife

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing to say the least
Review: This novel was started in 1924, completed in 1929, revised in 1934 and rejected for publication by Houghton Mifflin. It was revised again in the 50's and eventually published - in defference to its historical important I presume. The novel is worthy of its rejection. It is similar to D. H. Lawrence's The Man Who Died in its presenting the death and resurrection of Jesus as a trick played with drugs - a denial of the miraculous in keeping with its era. Its feminism is based on an attempted renewal of classical religious images - Egyptian, Greek, Mithraic, ... - with a superficial presentation of these religions in a high didactic style and plot. Even fans of H.D. will be disappointed. Nonetheless, it does provide background for a greater appreciation of the environment in which it was written and of the development of H.D. thought.

Read it as literary history and it is useful; read it as novel and it leaves much to be desired.