Travelling salesman Enrico Gaia decides to play a trick on the conceited ageing littérateur Mario Samigli: he dupes him into thinking that a representative of a prestigious Viennese publishing house wants to commission a German translation of a long-forgotten novel Samigli had written and published at his own expense forty years ago. This leads the old man to reach new heights of self-delusion, spurred on by Gaia's succession of ruses.
In this tragicomic study of deception and disappointment, Italo Svevo - who himself was an undiscovered writer until his old age - parodies elements of his own life and offers an insightful psychological portrait of a person who has lost touch with reality.
| ISBN: | 9781847497758 |
| Publication date: | 22nd November 2018 |
| Author: | Italo Svevo |
| Publisher: | Alma Classics an imprint of Alma Books COMMIS |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 128 pages |
| Series: | 101-Page Classics |
| Genres: |
Classic fiction: general and literary Fiction in translation |