Setting the World on Fire is an elaborately structured book; I am sure that academic commentators will soon find many … crafty parallels, convergences and contrasts in it. The fantasy in Wilson's earlier fiction is usually negative, cruel and evil. In this novel he has opened himself to hedonistic imaginings of beauty, wealth, glamour, energy and talent, giving them free rein, though with just enough control to turn fantasy into art; the result can reasonably be called baroque. It is noticeable that much of the energy goes into describing, often in elaborate and beautiful language, artifacts and performances: architecture, painting, theatrical and operatic productions, gardens. Writers on Wilson, like Peter Faulkner in his new study [see excerpt below], have emphasized the element of theatricality in his art, and in Setting the World on Fire it is dominant. But there is a price to be paid. Wilson has to tell...