Admirers of the spare, intelligent Monk Dawson may be disappointed by Polonaise, an unexciting academic chronicle-novel…. A leading theme is the slow evaporization of oh young men oh young comrades into disillusion, self-interest, patriotism, common sense. There is the familiar amiable, soft-fibred intellectual whose ineffective good intentions and minor talents compete with a feeble sadism and a mordant temptation to see Hitler as the uninhibited artist in action. The Poles tend to cherish self-absurdity and national deprecation. The writing is clear yet makes somewhat plodding recapitulations. 'Capitalism is a necessary state in the development of Man's productive capacities …'…. Read fills in everything to the last detail, his dialogue more earnest than compelling. He describes and explains too much. (p. 108)

Hitherto justly acclaimed for freshness, stylishness, inventiveness, Read here takes too few imaginative risks. He reminds us of serious matters in what is not quite a serious novel...