The ancient western Anatolian town of Nicaea (now Iznik in modern-day Turkey) was the site of two transforming events in Christian history. The first was a council of the Church in 325 CE that formalized the central doctrines of Christian faith under the aegis of the Roman Empire, while a second council in 787 CE sanctioned the creation of icons, thus facilitating the flourishing of Christian art. Nicaea is an imaginative recreation of what happened at those councils and the characters who have passed through Nicaea through the centuries. Using multiple narrative styles (letters, meditations, Arabic folktales, a Sufi "zhikr, prayers and Turkish shadow-puppet theater) that reflect the dazzling diversity of peoples who have been in Nicaea, Nicaea explores the central themes of both councils: faith and political power, individual conscience and collective responsibility, art and truth, and the sacred and profane.
In this elliptical work of religious-historical fiction, Rowe pays lyrical tribute to the ancient Turkish town of Iznik, once the Roman city of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed was written. We first arrive in present-day Iznik with Adam, who's come to the fabled city seeking God and romantic love; with him is his beloved Marianne, and the middle-aged lovers attempt to rekindle their passion after 20 years apart. Rowe then moves centuries back in time to ancient Nicaea, with several chapters of correspondence between figures of the early Christian Church-Eusebius, Arius and Athanasius-who discuss the nature of the Holy Trinity. Rowe also introduces Constantine's Empress Eirene as she awaits her execution, a Scheherazade-like serving girl who spins tales for the sultan and a cook who tries to evade death by taking refuge in a deep hole. Though the chapters are linked by the Nicaea setting and religious overtones, Rowe's approach, focusing less on Adam and Marianne's modern-day love story than on the past, results in a book that reads less like a novel than a finely wrought collection of short stories. Rowe's prose is fluid and eloquent, but the constant shifts in era and story can make following the narrative a challenge. Yet this is an impressive fiction debut, and readers interested in early Christian history will find much food for thought here. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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