Lit in Translation

Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants

Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d'éléphants

Mathias Énard (born 1972)

Translated by Charlotte Mandell

English editions

In English

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In May 1506 Michelangelo sails to Constantinople, defying Julius II, the warlike, tight-fisted pope whose tomb he left unfinished. Sultan Bayezid, having rejected Leonardo's plans, wants him to design a span across the Golden Horn. Starting from this historical fact, the novel imagines the forgotten weeks that followed: the sculptor dazzled by Ottoman beauty and shown in the act of creation.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Length
153 pages in the original
Genres
Historical (assigned by AI)
Set in
Türkiye, 1506
First published
2010 by Actes Sud
Author's age
38 when first published
ISBN

9782742793624 (original)

9780811227049 (New Directions, United States)

9781910695692 (Fitzcarraldo Editions, United Kingdom)

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Wikidata