Serpent

by Nicholas Mosley

Book Overview

Jason is a scriptwriter working on a film about Masada--the fortress where a thousand Jews killed themselves rather than be taken prisoner by the Romans in A. D. 73. He doubts that a film both honest and popular on such a subject can be made, and, while en route to the production site (Jason, producers and stars in first class--his wife and child in tourist), a dispute about the film and a crisis aboard the plane forces Jason to look at his life,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1564782441
• ISBN13: 9781564782441
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Surviving Masada

A screenwriter (Jason) boards a plane bound for Tel Aviv to convince a Hollywood producer (Epstien) that his new screenplay on Masada can never be made into a film. In the back of the plane, the screenwriter's wife (Lilia) and child meet up with a very unpredictable man. On the ground, a psychology major turned Masada security guard, and his wife, a physics student turned airport security official, do battle with strange interlopers known only as "protesters."This book is a good example of experimental fiction. Mosley creates multiple layers of spoken dialog and he successfully incorporates archetypes and the unconscious into articulated thoughts and events. What I liked best about it was the unexpectedness of the writing combined with a truly thrilling storyline. The chapters where we must plow through existential conversation between characters from Jason's screenplay are somewhat tedious compared to the present-day action on the plane. They remind us too heavily of the pedantic goals of the book: a discussion of whether it is better to sacrifice oneself for society or to survive; whether life is a "going concern" or a "calamity," and whether we are all really actors who can't tell anymore when we're acting. Readers who are newcomers to Western philosophy will want to follow up with readings on Plato, Josephus, and Masada. Those more experienced with the historical contexts for the book will no doubt question, argue, and go read the other four books in the Catastrophe Practice series.