SOURCE: "The Cruelty of Genius," in Time, Vol. 134, No. 11, September 11, 1989, p. 82.

In the following excerpt, Sheppard favorably reviews Lord Byron's Doctor, calling it a successful portrayal of the "passionately entwined" Romanticism and egoism of Byron and his colleagues.

Doubleday assures editors and reviewers that Lord Byron's Doctor is Paul West's "most accessible novel to date." What does this suggest about the writer's previous work? That it is less accessible, or even impenetrable? With a publisher like that, who needs critics? Far better to have readers willing to discover for themselves that, if anything, West, 59, is one of the most vigorous and inviting literary talents still punching away in semiobscurity. West wants to bowl over his audience and usually does, in virtuoso performances like Alley Jaggers, Bela Lugosi's White Christmas and The Very Rich Hours of Count von Stauffenberg, the last a fictionalization of the failed 1944 plot by German...