Alexander J. Motyl

Academic and cultural figure Alexander Motyl has added to his substantial output of creating writing with his newest novel, Ardor which posits the interaction of aspiring Nobel Prize winner Chester Milosz with a variety of low life characters while enjoying the high life of an international summit in northern Italy. A case of mistaken identity pulls Milosz from his small town American college into a gathering of the world’s best minds. Intellectuals, artists, businessmen, and policy makers convene at the Otto Nabokov Foundation’s Ardor Haus think tank at an estate in Caravaggio, northern Italy. What ensues is a raucous jaunt through a variety of situations with a menagerie of characters. This work is well written and entertaining yet unremarkable and forgettable. It is not an inspired piece from the good professor, but rather a tongue in cheek farcical treatment, a sordid visage of culture and politics.… (meer)