This famous satire follows a group of ingenious fraudsters who convince their wealthy victims that the pontiff has been imprisoned by freemasons in a madcap farce that questions conventional morality.
‘An expertly constructed network of coincidence and error’ The Irish Times
Set in the 1890s, André Gide’s famous satire centres around a group of ingenious fraudsters (‘The Millipede’) who convince their wealthy victims that the pontiff has been imprisoned in the Vatican cellars, and a false Pope has been enthroned in his place. Posing as clergy, they con money by promising to obtain the true Pope’s release and restoration.
The book features one of Gide’s most memorable creations: the amoral Lafcadio, who in pushing a man from a moving train commits the ultimate motiveless crime.
Unavailable in the UK for 25 years, this scandalous, funny and highly original novel has been re-translated to mark the centenary of its publication.
About the author
André Gide was a giant of twentieth-century French literature. An innovator of the novelistic form, he undertook a life-long exploration of morality in his work, and was a major influence on the writing of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Gide was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947.
Julian Evans is a writer and translator. His most recent book is Semi-Invisible Man: the Life of Norman Lewis.
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