SOURCE: A review of The Temple, in The Bloomsbury Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, March-April, 1989, p. 21.

[In the following review, Perkins comments favorably on The Temple and argues that its message regarding the repression of cultural and sexual freedom is relevant to contemporary America.]

Some books are an honor to review, and Stephen Spender's The Temple is one of them. Poet, critic, journalist, playwright—there are few writing hats that Spender has not worn, and he has worn them all with dauntless grace and style.

The Temple was written, in part, by the youthful Spender at a time when he was discovering life—and sex—along with two other famous buddies of his, W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, in the final halcyon days of the Weimer Republic. I say "in part" by the youthful Spender, because the novel took an interesting course over the years before finally finding the...