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jasonfurman's review
4.0
This a two-part novella. The first tells of a last days of John Keats in Rome, centered around a fictitious meeting with the Roman dialect poet Belli. The second part, more of an appendix, is a set of Belli’s poems, with the framing device of an introduction by the supposed translator Wilson. It is filled with enormously witty wordplay, deep references to the form and history of the sonnet, and that period in Romantic literature. Most of them went well above my head but I still caught enough to find this an fascinating and enjoyable book. Having read nearly twenty novels by Anthony Burgess, although none in the last fifteen years, this made me hungry for more of them. Maybe re-reading Enderby should be next on my list.
helie's review
4.0
I couldn't bring myself to get through all of Belli's poems (the second half of the book). But the first half was so interesting. I love Keats, so I really enjoyed reading about him as a character (even though it was as he was dying). And his discussions about God and religion and poetry and writing were a really interesting read. Anthony Burgess, what a cool guy.
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