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The novel is an eclectic journey across three historical periods, all connected by Rembrandt van Rijn's painting, Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer. With constant reflection between the different eras, we jump back & forth between the time of Aristotle, Rembrandt & Heller: the Golden Age of Athens, the 17th century golden age of Holland & the golden age of the USA.
Like Heller's version of King David's story, God Knows, the author changes little in the storyline of the original–-he excels in narrative & historical counterpoints, some explicit, some implicit. Incomprehension may have contributed to the cool reception this book received.
Heller concludes that we don't learn from history. In fact, so much of history may be nonfactual that learning may be impossible. Being a pessimistic chronicler of the American Century, his main unspoken theme is the parallel between the onetime Hellenic overlord & his home country. This is most apparent in his treatment of the downfall of Athens, when after the victory over Persia, it formed the Delian League & got embroiled in the Peloponnesian War. He describes a beacon of democracy that destroys its advances, transforming them into tools of abuse, turning on its own allies just to demonstrate its power & losing to weaker enemies due to self-deception.