Mona Lisa (Pushkin Collection)

by Alexander Lernet-Holenia

Ignat Avsey (Translator) and Neil Gower (Illustrator)

The secret behind the smile is revealed.

Three things have led the young nobleman Bougainville to his great, tragic love: war (he went to fight the Spanish for his king), art (his army visited Florence to do some light shopping) and the humble housefly (which he was chasing through Leonardo da Vinci's workshop when he stumbled upon her, leaning on an easel hidden behind a curtain).

He is plunged into an amour fou for his Mona Lisa - too beautiful, too real to have been imagined, however great the artist - and his attempts to find her prove wild, violent, even fatal.

Lernet-Holenia's novella is the brilliantly funny story of how art inspires a tremendous love - pure, for all its madness - and is inspired by it in turn.

Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897-1976) was a popular, prolific and provocative Austrian novelist, screenwriter and poet. His work was greatly admired by his peers, but usually loathed by the authorities - he was among the writers blacklisted by the Nazis. After the war, he collected all the most important national literary awards going, including the Great Austrian State Prize, and was elected the President of Austrian PEN in 1969.

• ISBN10: 1782271902
• ISBN13: 9781782271901
• Publish Date: 5 November 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 9 April 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Pushkin Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 96
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781782271901

Reviews

[Lianne]

I was approved an ARC of this book by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2016/06/13/review-mona-lisa/

Wow, I was absolutely stunned by this novella. Spanning about 88 pages long (in the eARC at least), the storytelling was tight as it focused on the young Bougainville and his quest to first uncover the identity of Leonardo da Vinci’s elusive portrait and then to save her. I really felt for Bougainville, he really was certain of his own feelings and went through great lengths to find her and to keep her safe. Unfortunately things come to head as reality and conviction end up clashing in quite a climax. I should note that whilst the story was very much about Bougainville’s quest, the historical backdrop in which the story is set it was quite fleshed out, you could feel the precarious political situation that these characters were living at the time.

Interwoven throughout Bougainville’s quest are thoughtful ponderings of love and ideas surroundingly courtly love and the Renaissance attitudes towards women, deeper ponderings about smiling (who would’ve thought?) and the images we form about other people (who they are, their backstories, how we perceive them, etc.). I was quite moved by Bougainville’s reflection on love towards the end of the novella. While thoughtful and sad at some parts, the story was also pretty hilarious at some parts (Leonardo da Vinci’s ponderings early in the novella was quite the amble) and the author’s own wittiness also makes an appearance here (the footnote he added about men’s trousers in this period greatly amused me).

I don’t know what else I can say about this novella except that it’s fantastic, it was short but I found it to be quite a powerful piece; I could not put it down once I started reading it. I can definitely see why this book was described as “Quixotic” on the book blurb. I highly recommend this book if you’re into translated literature, classic turn-of-the-century literature, novellas, or just looking for a new literary title to read :)

p.s. The illustrations by Neil Gower peppered throughout were absolutely wonderful too! I thought they added to the story in their own way :)