Initiation
The fifth of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, Initiation
from 1914 is a complex work. It is a study of a man's redemption, or
initiation into his full humanity, through pain. The novel explores the
different types of pain with which people are afflicted — spiritual,
psychological, and physical — none of it deserved, yet all of it leading
to greater self-awareness and understanding of what it means to be
human. Despite the grimness of the theme, the novel is both entertaining
and profound. (ISBN 978-1-60210-009-1, 360 pp, $22.00)
