cover image The Stone and the Flute

The Stone and the Flute

. Penguin Books, $17 (864pp) ISBN 978-0-14-007445-1

``A rather pallid allegorical journey to enlightenment along the lines of The Pilgrim's Progress ,'' wrote PW of this would - be German Lord of the Rings. The ``simple messages of brotherhood and ecology,'' PW continued, ``seem hardly worth the 850 pages it takes to deliver them.'' (August)