\Gilead,"" by Marilynne Robinson, is the novel that is the capstone of the literary year. It was a long time coming and will be remembered for even longer, marking Robinson's second work of fiction as another American classic. Twenty-three years ago, Robinson's ""Housekeeping"" awed readers with its quiet brilliance and entered her name into the canon of writers to watch. The steady gaze of her devout fans has been rewarded with ""Gilead.""
The book succeeds on all fronts, combining contemplative timing, astonishing exquisiteness of language and time-won wisdom. While its pace is deliberately slow, its passages are never drawn out, but rather move with steady steps throughout. Robinson's skill with words, from her meticulous crafting of metaphors to the way she suggests mysticism without ever writing it, has no equal. Beyond the language and the pace of the book, its humble lessons and the inarguable insight make it a triumph of literature.
""Gilead"" takes the form of a long letter from Reverend John Ames to his son. As Ames' health begins to fail, his mind is reaching to the quiet corners and distant memories of his life, his father's and his grandfather's. The letter encompasses all the sadness and grief of a minister's story, matched memory-for-memory by silent joys and the satisfaction that comes with a life of honest work.
On a deeper level, the book delves into the tenuous relationship that defines how fathers relate to sons and vice versa. While ""Housekeeping"" was introspective in its look at sisters and who passes for a mother, ""Gilead"" examines the other sex with equal care. Ames is defined by the men before and after him through their shared sense of competition and fulfillment, hoping the best for his son while explaining the motives of his ancestors.
By distilling three generations of preachers on the Kansas prairie, ""Gilead"" has the gravity of history with a sense of despair. John Ames' grandfather joined the abolitionists in the fight against slavery with a Bible in one hand and a pistol in the other. His son was pacifist and the grandson, John Ames, acknowledges that he will never be tested by the moral conflict his grandfather was up against.
Because ""Gilead"" centers on Ames, Robinson had to find the specific tone of his character. In her appearance Dec. 2 at University Book Store, 711 State St., she said she had to connect with her characters.
""In the case of both my novels, in some way I have felt very convinced of the reality of the person who is speaking the novel,"" she said.
Robinson said she had to sense the person who she is writing about. Her craft is a matter of identifying with the person on paper.
""Fiction for me is generated out of a voice, and the voice is another character and I have to feel as though I know that character,"" she said. ""So long as I have the voice clearly in my mind ... I can write to my satisfaction.""
Since she spoke to a packed house, she frequently had to deflect glowing comments and flattering praise instead of answering questions. With ""Gilead,"" Robinson has ensured her place as an idol in the eyes of her fans, and has created another transcendent classic.
""Gilead"" is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
