Book Review: Colossus: A Novel about Goya and a World Gone Mad

Colossus: A Novel about Goya and a World Gone Mad
by Stephen Marlowe
Macmillan (1972) 563 pp

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes is considered to be the most important Spanish artist of the late 18^th and early 19^th Centuries. Stephen Marlowe succeeds in showing us the man behind the legacy. Sometimes a great person comes into being and changes the world, but that does not come without sacrifice. The author’s eye for detail paints a world of extraordinary upheaval. The book is often mired in drawing room situations, especially when rendering Goya’s passionate love affairs. The historical narrative is a dramatic unfolding of events that are factually accurate. The characters are living the story; the author is not telling us what to think about what actually happened historically. We see the world through Goya’s eyes and feel his pain and his passion. You will have no choice but to fall in love with him.