Oliver VII by Len Rix
The King is bored, weighed down by his vast military cloak and all the other impediments to commonplace adventure. So he organises a coup against himself, and abandons his ancient throne. But what should one whose only experience is that of an absolute ruler do with himself? Why, become a con-man of course! So he decides to impersonate himself, pass himself off as the ex-king Oliver VII. All of this leads to one of the oldest sources of comedy, the total inversion of identity, the piling up of paradoxes according to the fashion of the times. A playful reworking of one of the most interesting questions of existentialism: what is the Self? Szerb offered this book as a translation from a non-existent English writer, A H Redcliff...Typical Szerb humor, or a reflection of the fact that as a 'rootless cosmopolitan' his own work was banned? Under the increasing persecution of the Nazi regime, Szerb was stopped from teaching at Szeged University in 1943.
"Szerb belongs with the master novelists of the 20th century" PAUL BAILEY Daily Telegraph "May Szerb"s re-entry into our literary pantheon be definitive" ALBERTO MANGUEL Financial Times
Antal Szerb was born in 1901 into a cultivated Budapest family of Jewish descent. Graduating in German and English, he rapidly established himself as a prolific scholar, publishing books on drama and poetry, studies of Ibsen and Blake, and histories of English, Hungarian, and world literature. His first novel, The Pendragon Legend, 1934, is set in London and Wales. He is also the author of Journey by Moonlight, The Queen's Necklace, Oliver VII and various volumes of novellas. He died in the forced-labour camp at Balf in January 1945.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781901285796 |
| ISBN 10 | 1901285790 |
| Title | Oliver VII |
| Author | Len Rix |
| Series | Pushkin Collection |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Pushkin Press |
| Year published | 2007-07-28 |
| Number of pages | 208 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |