cover image Carnival of Saints

Carnival of Saints

George Herman. Ballantine Books, $22 (419pp) ISBN 978-0-345-38150-7

Returning to the theme of his award-winning play, A Company of Wayward Saints , former theater professor Herman traces the rise of commedia dell'arte , the improvisational Italian theater dating from the 16th century that featured stock types--e.g., Harlequin, Columbine, The Doctor, The Captain, The Lover. By the end of this lengthy but exuberant first novel, the ``saints''--a troupe of itinerant actors--experiment with biblical pageants and written dramas, thereby demonstrating how theater evolved. Offstage and on, the characters' actions interweave with stormy political events. Cesare Borgia (who used French mercenaries to cripple the power of the great Roman families in 1502, the year the novel opens), his sister Lucrezia the Poisoner and Machiavelli (who modeled his ruthless prince on Cesare) appear briefly, along with squads of lesser figures: foes, allies and victims. But the lavish name-dropping sometimes proves wearisome; and the novel's insistent, joshing hilarity doesn't let up, all the bufoonery and sexual romping suffocating a promising subject and evading perceptive characterizations. To its credit, however, Herman's rambunctious, bawdy narrative bursts with local color and conveys the frantic energy of a turbulent time. (Feb.)