BOOK LAUNCH: ‘THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF LUCIANO DE MEGERA’ BY PAULO MOREIRAS

Synopsis: Is this novel merely a literary diversion? A scholarly exercise or a hoax? A piece of rubbish from some second-hand bookseller? What mysteries lie behind this bizarre novel, which is as much a picaresque tale as it is a satire and a critique of social mores? The novel now presented here stems from the discovery of a manuscript, its creative reworking by Paulo Moreiras, and the literary symbiosis the author has established between the texts, whilst preserving the same principle: that of being able to write for the sheer love of writing. Could a donkey write a novel like this? It would appear so. However, this novel presents itself as a puzzle for librarians, a conundrum for booksellers and a tangled web for literary critics – that is, if there are any willing to lose themselves in the thickets of this forest of fantasy and imagination.