Do you ever think about how many books get published? I certainly do. For the past thirty-five years or so, I have been prowling bookshelves full of paperback books in various states of repair in used book stores, but also in thrift stores, yard sales and free piles. And for the most part, I know what books will be stocked up in mass -- I have probably seen hundreds of volumes by writers like James Clavell and Arthur Hailey filling such bookshelves since the 1980s. Which is why I am always surprised when I see a book whose title and author is totally new to me.
"Sinai Tapestry" is a novel by Edward Whittlemore, first published in 1977. It is hard to pinpoint even what genre it is in. It is basically historical fiction from an alternate history, a series of fantastic tall tales with some social commentary, and maybe a gigantic shaggy dog story.
The book starts with two main characters: Strongbow, a polymath noble who escapes English society to go to The Levant and write a 33 volume history of sexuality, and Wallenstein, a renegade heir from the Balkans who becomes a monk, and forges, or reforges, a Bible that has been lost in oral history. This Bible, the "Sinai Bible", is the central artifact of the book. Apparently, early in the 1st century BC, a street beggar started making up stories, and when they were written down, they would be the central story that the Torah, Bible and Quran would all be derived from. This reforged Bible then is hidden, and later characters, including the descendants of the original characters, try to find it. The book seems to shift between being realistic and fantastic, some of the events are slightly exaggerated, while others, such as the revelation that a character is thousands of years old, are obviously fantasy.
At least, that appears to be the plot. As mentioned, this is a shaggy dog story with wide parodic strokes, so many other things happen that seem only partially related. As also mentioned, this was published in 1977, so there is a lot of "naughty" sexuality and poking fun at society, as well as a subversive attitude towards religion, etc. The final few dozen pages of the book seems to have a bit of whiplash, as the final episode of the book depicts the violent massacre of the minority population of Smyrna by Turkish soldiers in terms that are realistic and somber, which is at odds with the rest of the book's often flippant tone.
One thing that occurred to me while reading this book is how different the Middle East was portrayed in the book then it was in the present. Published in 1977, the year before the Iranian revolution, its primary descriptions of the Levant is of an exotic, colorful and licentious land with strange customs, but not one of strict religiosity. At the time, the fascination was that, in comparison to Europe, Arab countries were much more tolerant of homosexuality and other sexual practices. (Although, of course, this may not be the author's viewpoint---the author may be parodying such "orientalist" fascination. But to me, it certainly seemed like a relic of the seventies, where other cultures provided a "way out" style of life in contrast to the strict and boring life in the Western world.
But to get back to my first paragraph, I am having a hard time placing this book. I found it an easy enough read, and it was clever and interesting--- but I don't know what point I got out of it, or what point I was supposed to get out of it. What literary or social movement spurred this book? The book was published by Avon, a major popular publishing house, so this wasn't some student project. Yet I have never heard of the author before. Maybe this book could have been on a list of books that will induce a mindfuck alongside books by Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon or Richard Brautigan, another milestone of the iconoclastic 1970s---but, unless I have been missing something, this book appears to be an oddity without much impact, despite an interesting premise and engaging writing.