Profane Chronicles

This novel of a man's sexual obsession with a Nordic beauty brings to mind the bluesy central-European passion of Milan Kundera, though here the author's lust is less adulterated by philosophical and existential musings. Kafallo ( Sappho's Folly ) recounts a relatively straightforward love story: a sex-starved Bulgarian oarsman named Andro becomes pen-pals with Vivien, a Finn, and against all odds they meet, fall in love, and soon . . . ``their whole beings seemed fused with one another.'' Aside from the passion, it's the language that takes center stage. With refreshingly quirky sentences and many an odd turn of phrase or raunchy aside, the narrator crafts a fanciful and goodnatured picaresque, occasionally redolent of a 19th-century pornographic novel, at other times graced by an elegance worthy of an Elizabethan sonnet. Though essentially lightweight, this is a bright and engaging comedy--a literary love affair, Bulgarian-style. Illustrations not seen by PW. (May)