''Oliver VII'' is a 1942 novel by
Antal Szerb. The first English translation was published in 2007. In the book, the restless ruler of an obscure central European state plots a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
against himself and escapes to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
in search of ‘real’ experience. There he falls in with a team of
con men
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have de ...
and ends up, to his own surprise, impersonating himself. His journey through successive levels of illusion and reality teaches him much about the world, about his own nature and the paradoxes of the
human condition
The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...
.
Translated from the Hungarian by
Len Rix Len Rix is a translator of Hungarian literature into English, noted for his translations of Antal Szerb's '' Journey by Moonlight'' and ''The Pendragon Legend'' and of Magda Szabó's '' The Door'' and ''Katalin Street''.
Early life and education
...
, and {{ISBN, 978-1-901285-90-1 for the reprint edition.
External links
PushkinPress.comEnglish editions of works by the author Antal Szerb
1942 novels
Hungarian novels
Novels set in Venice