Flight of the Swan.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara
• Position: Books: instinct, intellect, and obsession

Flight of the Swan, by Rosario Ferre. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.

This fascinating new novel by Puerto Rican writer Rosario Ferre brings together two dramatically different worlds and illuminates them both. The swan of the title is Russian ballerina Niura Federovsky, identified through most of the book only as Madame. Born out of wedlock to a washerwoman and the son of a wealthy Jewish banker, Federovsky is educated first by a rabbi, then at the Maryinsky Imperial Ballet School, where her father's family has connections. In spite of her Bolshevik leanings, she becomes a favorite of the royal family and a prima ballerina.

Shrewd and ambitious, as a young girl she takes up with Victor Dandre, a shady character forced out of Russia when the political situation gets hot and his wheelings and dealings catch up with him. With a small group of dancers Dandre and Madame tour Europe, then leave for the United States, and finally wind up in Puerto Rico, where most of the action takes place. The contrast between the rigorous, disciplined world of classical ballet and the relaxed, sensuous island culture gives rise to a certain amount of humor, although this is not primarily a funny book. Set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution, the Great War, and the American domination of Puerto Rico, Flight of the Swan explores complex political issues while engaging the reader in a delightful tale of seduction and lust.

Always in financial straits, Dandre hears there is money to be made in South America and enters into an agreement with Adolfo Bracale, an Italian impresario who brings performers to the Caribbean, then cheats them out of their profits. Once in Puerto Rico, the troupe finds itself in a bureaucratic quagmire that requires Dandre to return to New York. Shadowed by Molinari, Bracale's ominous subagent, Madame; her maid, Masha; and a few dancers decide to journey into the interior to perform in small towns and earn enough to allow the troupe to survive.

In Arecibo, the delicate swan is wined and dined by the Batestinis, a wealthy, ultra-conservative family. The father, a religious fanatic, repudiated his only son after the boy committed suicide over a failed love affair, yet he himself fathered an illegitimate child. The socialite mother spends her days planning gatherings and trying to persuade the impoverished peasants to raise money for the American war effort in Europe.

In Dandre's absence, Madame forgets her rigorous...