John Amos Comenius.  _The Labyrinth of the World and the
Paradise of the Heart_; translated and introduced by Howard
Louthan and Andrea Sterk; preface by Jan Milic Lochman (New
York: Paulist Press, 1997. 250 pp.  ISBN:  080910489X (US
$24.95) and 0809137399 (US $16.95).
  Reviewed by Richard Brzustowicz, Jr.

  John Amos Comenius (Jan Amos Komensky, 1592-1670), is
one of those figures who (like Francis Bacon) have a dual
fame and a dual influence.  They are key figures not only in
the daylit world of official history (and its official
revisionisms), but also in that twilit world of counter-
histories in which the plays attributed to Shakespeare were
written if not by Bacon, then by a committee of which Bacon
was the head, in which John Dee in fact succeeded in
bringing about a general reformation of all the kingdoms of
the world, without ever realizing how successful he had
been, and in which the rightful king of a united Europe is
an heir to the throne of the Merovingians from some line of
descent that somehow did not become tributary to the
genealogical treasury of the Habsburgs.

  Comenius is one of the prominent figures in European
educational reform; the last Bishop of the Bohemian Brethren
(Unitas Fratrum), he was in close contact with the early
Royal Society; he not only had a European fame during his
life, but his fame as an educator and advocate of the
sciences continues to this day, as reflected by the
publications in Comenian studies especially in western
Slavic languages.  The most recent previous translation of
our text, by Matthew Spinka, was published in honor of the
three hundredth anniversary of Comenius' death, was
published by the University of Michigan.  At the same time,
because of his affiliation with Johannes Andreae, reputed
author of the _Chymische Hochzeit_, and because of his
associations with the pansophic movement, and his
connections with what became German Pietism, he has been
regarded as a "great Rosicrucian," and various of his works
(including an even earlier translation of our text, and his
_Great Didactic_) are kept in print by a publisher of occult
and esoteric books.  The _Labyrinth_ is also the subject of
an appreciatory essay published in 1989 (in _The New York Review of
Science Fiction_, 15[1]) by the novelist John Crowley,
whose more recent works have been ironic counter-histories
that engage in extensive play with the similarities between
aspects of Comenius' period and our own.

  _The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart_
is a satirical allegory of the quest of a pilgrim who enters
the world to find truth. The tale is also autobiographical,
not only in that it follows to some extent the pattern of
Comenius' own life, but also in that he revised and enlarged
it twice during his life, to reflect changes and extensions
in his own conceptions.  The protagonist passes through all
the official (and unofficial) exponents and vendors of
truths, each profession, way of life, and avocation,  until
he finds those who are the quiet and retiring possessors of
truth, learning that truth is not to be found in the world
but in the heart, in particular, the heart informed by the
living presence of Christ.

  It is not at all clear that there is anything particularly "mystical",
or for that matter esoteric, about the resolution of the pilgrim's
travails; despite the use of the imagery of betrothal and
new birth.  What is described seems far closer to conversion
as the beginning of a pious and devout life in the world,
rather than the beginning of a contemplative vocation,
theosophical speculation or visionary quest.  It is the end
of a story, rather than the beginning.

  Louthan and Sterk have produced a readable translation,
informed by Spinka's (1972) but in a more contemporary
idiom, and without the latter's occasional self-assured and
even argumentative bluntness of opinion.  (Spinka, for
example, at one point expresses some surprise at Comenius'
belief in guardian angels, excusing him by saying "after all
he was but a child of his age."  Shortly afterward,
remarking on Comenius' advocacy of a particular prophetic
movement, Spinka tartly remarks that he "belongs to the
company of credulous Christians".  Louthan and Sterk echo
these remarks in their Introduction, but as reporters of
others' views rather than as proponents of a judgment they
expect the reader to share.)

  Lochman's brief Preface puts Comenius into his religious
and theological context; the translators' Introduction
elaborates the biographical, historical and literary
contexts of the work. Their notes are clear and helpful:
speaking to the intelligent general reader, rather than to
the academic specialist, they focus on making the text more
accessible, rather than on overt participation in the
debates of scholars.  Their bibliography provides a
manageable way into the literature on Comenius -- and is not
limited to English materials, but includes French, German
and Czech studies, and Comenius' own work in Latin and
Czech, as well as in translation.  However, the text itself,
and the notes and other commentary, are exclusively in
English.

  Like the other publications in this Paulist Press Classics
of Western Spirituality series, the book is well produced
and visually accessible (unlike the rather cramped treatment
given Spinka's translation, with its almost unreadable
facsimile of the Amsterdam edition (in Czech) of 1663).  The
book could be used effectively with an undergraduate class
able to deal only with English,  and could be read with
pleasure and profit even by readers mature enough to be able
to deal only with clear, uncramped typefaces.  It is the
most usable of all the available translations, and I think
the translation of choice for most purposes.

  Perhaps the only omission (in which it is not unique) is
its focus on what I have called the "daylit" side of the Comenian
influence.  No one reading this translation would have any
reason to suppose that there was another, almost
underground, side to the Comenian tradition, and might well
find it hard to see how such a thing could have come about.
John Crowley's appreciation would rectify this omission quite
satisfactorily; if the book ever has a second edition, the
publishers could do worse than to include it with the other
prefatory material.

Paulist Press