Another Metamorphosis and Other Fictions

Something is sententious in the state of Denmark, whence hail these 46 very brief entries. Sorensen ( The Downfall of the Gods ) addresses, primarily, philosophical dilemmas, religious tradition and classical mythology; recasts them in pseudo-fabulous language; then hunts for paradox. However laudable his politics--advocating pacifism, personal liberty, etc.--his critiques are unrelievedly flat. A two-paragraph ``fiction'' titled ``The Individuals'' concludes: ``And as one body the self-defined ``individuals'' were taken to camps, where they perished en masse .'' In ``Pygmalion,'' Sorensen opines that ``often love is more a matter of an image of the other, rather than the other herself.'' These works choke on their disingenuous tone, and the comparisons with Ovid, begged by the title of the volume and by many of its subjects (Narcissus, Aphrodite, Orpheus), are simply too cruel to draw. (Feb.)