cover image This Part of the World

This Part of the World

Samuel Hazo, . . Syracuse Univ., $19.95 (166pp) ISBN 978-0-8156-0908-7

In this crisp if airless antiwar allegory, poet Hazo traces the efforts of a band of guerrillas as it resists eradication by a murderous, America-backed dictator. Set in an unnamed Spanish-speaking country ruled by a premier named Caseres (who bears a resemblance to any number of autocrats in recent history), the novel moves among various points of view to set up a guerrilla ambush of government troops at the mountain village of Megiddo. The guerrillas are led by an ascetic Corsican, a veteran of wars in Algeria, Ireland and Jerusalem, and aided by embittered rebels like American Vietnam vet Hull and former priest Sabertes. As Caseres, ailing from a heart condition and in love with a singer whose brother is secretly fighting with the Corsican, prepares a crushing assault on the guerrillas, he grooms his ill-prepared son, Radames, to take over. Hazo has a convincingly bleak vision, but the narrative's mechanical feel and allegorical trappings leave the reader at an emotional remove. (Sept.)