Venusberg

More about the book

Lushington, a "serious young man with a pink-white face," is sent as a special correspondent for a London newspaper to a newly established country on the Baltic coast in the 1930s, "the name of which he could never remember." He hopes to find inspiration for his literary endeavors and distraction from a failed romance amid the unstable political situation. However, the frivolous atmosphere of the party-filled capital prevents Lushington from writing and introduces him to a number of decidedly eccentric personalities – the eerie servant Pope, known as "the Duke" by his army comrades, the ostentatious Count Bobel, who sells face cream and smells of brilliantine, and the highly mysterious Mrs. Mavrin. These encounters draw Lushington and the reader into an ironic yet always polished conversation. This translation of "Venusberg" (1932) continues the publication of Anthony Powell's narrative work.