The Charioteer (Vintage) [Paperback]

In this exquisite novel, Mary Renault, best-known for her novels set in ancient Greece, turns her attention to the tendentious subject of homosexual love during the Second World War. Laurie, a wounded soldier recovering in hospital, becomes enamoured of the young and clearly innocent Andrew, a conscientious objector who is working as an orderly. Into the midst of this idyll comes Ralph, an old friend from Laurie's school days, with whom Laurie was in love, or in awe. Along with Ralph come a variety of his friends, some melodramatic, some manipulative. The subject of the novel is Laurie's indecision between Andrew and his otherworldly, ethereal charm, and Ralph's more down-to-earth reality.

The title refers to the metaphor that which the soul is a charioteer in charge of two horses, one beautiful and well-behaved, the other wild and wilful. The charioteer has to keep peace between them and ensure that they don't drag the chariot off-course.

Mary Renault is respected for being so adept at creating believable male characters. Although some of the denizens of this novel are types, the naïve pretty youth, the camp and dramatic queen, the manipulative, predatory homosexual, they never become stereotypes thanks to Renault's gift for characterization.

At the time this novel was written, during the 1950's, the subject of homosexuality was still contentious, and using it as the theme of a novel was a brave decision. There is nothing exploitive or prurient about the story, nor is there any kind of plea for tolerance; this is simply a story with well-drawn, consistent characters going about their daily lives. At the same time, there is a strong sense of the time and place in which the novel is set: the war goes on in the background, people try to get on with their lives in the shadow of constant threat, people are kind or selfish according to character. Mary Renault is a superb creator of real people, and anyone who enjoys an engrossing story will find much to enjoy within the pages of this engrossing novel.

As a great fan of the author, i discovered this title purely by accident in a charity shop and was mesmerised. Renault demonstrates exceptional insight into human nature and this talent, combined with a remarkable ability of transferring her observations to the written word, gives the reader a moving and very believable story of the lives of gay people during the second world war, well before the word was first penned. The characters are wonderfully complex and yet so very easy to relate to. The party sequence in which she continues to build the scene throughout the chapter, constantly introducing new and varied characters would be banal and confusing from anyone with less ability. If any novel is deserving of the title 'gay classic', this one gets my vote.

Comparing the secretive comradeship of homosexuals to the brotherhood in arms of servicemen in the Second World War was a very daring thing to do in the 1950s, but Mary Renault does it in this book. All three main characters and some of the secondary ones (Reg, Dave and Alec) have a strong code of honour and a sense of comradeship which leads them to a desire to protect their fellows. Not everyone can live up to the ideals of their respective codes: the public schoolboy who 'rats' on his head of school, the soldier who kills his instructor and blows off his own hand in grenade training, the unfaithful wife of a war-wounded soldier, the superficial gay party-goers, the vicar lacking in empathy or charity. A few characters seem to have no code of honour or comradeship whatsoever, but they seem to show its existence even more strongly by their deviance from it. (Interestingly there are no cowardly conscientious objectors, it is taken as read that all were acting on a moral imperative, war and pacifism were not the targets here.)

I borrowed Mary Renault's historical novels from the school library and enjoyed them very much. This one, possibly her greatest work, was not in the collection. I wish it had been, this is a masterpiece novel which must have been mind-changing for those who read it on first release. Did this novel help bring about the legalisation of male homosexuality? It would have done if enough people read it.

There are no descriptions of sex in this novel. The reader knows when it happens, the omittance is not prudish. The only other concession to the public morality of the time is that characters are given childhood traumas as 'reasons' for their homosexuality. Mary Renault had studied Ancient Greece and knew the real world as well, she knew some people are just born 'that way', but this novel HAD to be published.

It would help if the reader had a passing aquaintance with the works of Plato to understand the significance of that particular book and the various quotes, but it is not essential. The story of the charioteer soul is explained very well for the uninitiated. If any reader of "The Lord of the Flies" finds the choice of the name Ralph significant, it might also add to the understanding of this multi-layered magnificent novel.

Wow! This book almost makes me want to remove a star from every other review I have written.