The Fox by M.N.J. Butler - REVIEW
The Fox is a 1995 historical novel by M.N.J. Butler, following the life of the Spartan prince Leotychides from his youth to his old age. The first thing to be said about this novel is just how obscure it is. At the time of writing this review, The Fox has 37 ratings on Goodreads and only 12 reviews. If it weren’t for the folks over at historicalnovels.info then I probably would never have even heard of this book. Indeed, I can find next to no information about the author themselves; where they’re from, whether they have written any other novels, or even what their full name is. I can’t even uncover any information about the original publisher of the novel. In my opinion, such mystery only serves to add to the novel’s charm.
The Fox begins during the final year of the Long War (better known to us as the Peloponnesian War) between Sparta and Athens. Despite a Spartan victory, many feel that the city has compromised its traditional values in the wake of its triumph. Our hero Leotychides, a scion of one Sparta’s two royal lines, comes of age as part of a traditional Spartan “flock” where he is communally reared with other young boys until they are old enough to become soldiers. After the death of the young prince’s father, Leotychides believes that the throne belongs to him. However, questions surrounding his paternity see his uncle Agesilaus ascend to the kingship in his stead. Leotychides is forced to swallow humiliation after humiliation as his uncle betrays the laws of Lycurgus – breaks faith with the spirit of Sparta – for his own gain and power. The scope of the novel is vast and covers a sweep of history that is seldom explored in fiction. The novel wonderfully explores social and political vicissitudes of a Greece sandwiched between the Peloponnesian War and Macedonian hegemony.
Our window into this world, Leotychides, has one of the most authentic historical voices I have ever read in fiction. He is alien yet familiar at the same time in a way that is reminiscent of a character from one of Mary Renault’s novels. We share in both his pains and triumphs, we like and we love him. If there are differences between the way that he thinks and the way that we think, we blame ourselves for letting them exist. Butler’s authorial voice is that good.
That’s not to say that the novel doesn’t have its fair share of problems, however. Firstly, although Leotychides is a convincing protagonist, Agesilaus is decidedly not a compelling antagonist. Agesilaus is the shadow that stalks Leotychides throughout these 500 pages, yet his presence is never truly felt. Scenes where he is present are always brief, and we are offered only the barest sketches of his personality and motivations. Forsooth, he becomes some kind of bogeyman for our heroes – simultaneously incompetent yet somehow capable of superhuman feats of mischief. I just wish that Butler had treated Agesilaus with a bit more even-handedness.
My second problem with the novel is that it does flag in some places, particularly towards the middle section. Obviously for a novel set in ancient Sparta, war features prominently. Much of the novel was given over to the description of campaign after campaign, and it would be fair to say that I was bored in parts. Nevertheless, the clouds of boredom did always dissipate before long, and by the end of the novel I wished that there was more book to get through.
It is frankly quite the crime that The Fox has been read by so few. It’s a beautifully written and demanding novel that requires the reader’s full presence of mind. The slow, ponderous prose and huge cast of characters does not make this a light read, but it is certainly a worthy one. I don’t know if Butler ever wrote another novel – but if he didn’t, then it is certainly a waste for the world.
Rating – 7/10
