Travelling salesman Enrico Gaia decides to play a trick on the conceited ageing litterateur 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.
- ISBN13 9781843910589
- Publish Date 29 August 2003
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 4 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Hesperus Press Ltd
- Format Paperback
- Pages 112
- Language English