SOURCE: "The Double Life," in New York Review of Books, Vol. XLIV, No. 9, May 29, 1997, pp. 17-8.

In the following review, Bayley delineates the major theme of Banville's The Untouchable and observes that Banville's hooks provide "a joyful and durable source of aesthetic satisfaction."

John Banville occupies a very definite and indeed almost unique place among contemporary novelists. He is not fashionable. Indeed he disregards fashion, even the extent to which most novelists, however independent in their natures and talents, keep an eye on what is "in" or "out," and are often insensibly influenced by this awareness. He shows no interest in discovering in his fiction who he "really is"; nor does he consciously explore the predicament of a class or a society. Social indignation, or powerful statements about the inner life, are not for him: nor is the fantasy projection of the self that goes with magic realism...