"Envy is a novel—or novella (125 airy pages, admirably translated from the Italian by Alastair McEwen and handsomely produced by the Pushkin Press)—about the possibility of a novel that remains unwritten, which is about as postmodern as it gets. It's all a tease—of the painter and his lawyers, of the reader, and of the author himself. (...) elegant, witty and provocative"
LEWIS JONES New Statesman
"(He) erects the scaffolding of a thorough examination of collector's envy"
NORA MAHONY Times Literary Supplement
"(He) erects the scaffolding of a thorough examination of collector's envy"
NORA MAHONY Times Literary Supplement
ABOUT THE BOOK
Envy is an emotion that grows slowly. Thanks to a series of fortuitous encounters and circumstances, a writer falls victim to an obsessive curiosity about a famous artist Julian Sax. He would like to meet Sax, but the great painter is surrounded by an almost impenetrable protective screen. The writer’s wife, the charming and sensuous Rossa, eventually takes him to Tony’s tea room in London, where Sax spends a few hours of each day, accompanied by his children, models and friends. The narrator begins to fear that his wife Rossa might succumb to the charm of this seductive man who attracts women, paints them and then discards them. In an unpredictable sequence of events, Elkann weaves a fascinating web, blending reality and fiction and drawing the reader into the lives of characters who will prove hard to forget.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALAIN ELKANN was born in New York in 1950. He is a regular contributor to various Italian newspapers and magazines, such as La Stampa, Nuovi Argomenti and Panta. A prize winning novelist, essayist and journalist, he has published over twenty books.
Translated from the Italian by Alastair McEwen
Cover Illustration: Hans Bellmer
ISBN 978 1901285 81 9
128pp
