Man of Nazareth
Re-telling the story of Jesus is like re-inventing the wheel - it's Been Done, leaving a novelist merely the option of new alignments. This novel is based on Burgess' screen play for Zeffirelli's TV film, and considering the formidable hurdles, it's a somewhat strained but certainly consistent version. Burgess uses an anonymous, detached narrator who manages to bring the miracles and the teachings of Jesus - couched in a muscular idiom that sheds all mystic shadings - into a fairly comfortable balance.