Called by its author a false novel, Dark Back of Time begins with the tale of the odd effects of publishing All Souls, his witty and sardonic 1989 Oxford novel. All Souls is a book Marias swears to be fiction, but which its characters-the real-life dons and professors and bookshop owners who have recognized themselves-fiercely maintain to be a roman a clef. With the sleepy world of Oxford set i...