The Resurrection, John Gardner's first published novel, tells the story of philosophy professor James Chandler's final days. In his early forties with a young wife (Marie) and three young daughters, Chandler learns that he's been stricken with an aggressive form of leukemia and has, at best, three months to live. With the death sentence imposed and the clock ticking, Chandler decides to move his family back east, from San Francisco to the town of Batavia in upper New York State, where he spent his childhood and where his elderly mother still lives in the old family home. Batavia, it turns out, is largely unchanged from when he was young, though it and the people he knew have aged considerably and become eccentric. Soon after arriving Chandler visits the home of his old piano teacher and her two elderly sisters, where, dizzied and overwhelmed by ghosts from his past, he suffers a seizure outside on the street after taking his leave. It is Viola Staley, the teenage niece of the three old women, who comes to the rescue and drives Chandler to the hospital. Viola, impressionable and exhibiting an engaging mixture of impetuosity, decisiveness, awkward vulnerability and creeping self-doubt, moves into the Chandler home to help Marie and Chandler's mother care for the girls. In a short time Viola develops a singular fascination with the family and a violent emotional attachment for Chandler himself. In the meantime, Chandler, recovering in the hospital, encounters John Horne, a man disfigured by misfortune whose doctor has told him he is dying. Horne, who comes across as a twisted projection of Chandler's aesthetic theories, berates Chandler at length with his own theories. It is with Horne that the novel comes somewhat unhinged. Gardner allows this character too much latitude to sound off and dominate page after page, with the unfortunate result that the reader is sorely tempted to skip these passages. The novel's ending is inconclusive and not entirely plausible, bringing Chandler and Viola together under contrived circumstances in a scene that would be more at home in a Gothic potboiler. Still, there is a lot to admire in The Resurrection, in particular Gardner's descriptive powers, and his ability to construct scenes, build dramatic tension, and infuse his characters with startling individuality. In the 1970s this author's genius would be fully realized in works like Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues and October Light. This early novel might be inferior but is still well worth reading if you're curious to see what the young John Gardner was capable of. ( )

Philosopher dying of leukemia goes back to upstate New York from California. Visits some old neighbors (also a young niece of neighbors), is hospitalized and returns childhood home presumably to die. In hospital, crosses paths with another dying philosopher. Has a dream? about an old women. Young niece falls in love with main character after taking care of his children. Neighbors' niece, wife, mother and children visit Letchworth State Park. Niece's last visit to philosopher precipitates the somewhat vague climax. Dream sequence in hospital occasion for a meditation about whether the philosopher can distinguish reality from fantasy. My feeling is that of course he cannot without accepting his own embeddedness in a society--the woman is a dream if no one else in fact experiences her; she is not if they do. He can only know when someone obviously shares his experience (which no one does to his knowledge). I am glad this book was not much longer. The philosophical parts dragged a little. There were some interesting things dating this book: 1) No cell phones; it is interesting how I missed their existence especially when the main character had a medical crisis and no way to immediately call 911 (this is from one who does not own a cell phone); 2) Smoking was allowed in the hospital--how much smoking was simply an assumed part of life. ( )