Oliver VII

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 against himself and escapes to Venice in search of ‘real’ experience. There he falls in with a team of con men 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.

Oliver VII

English translation book cover from 2007
Author	Antal Szerb
Original title	VII. Olivér
Translator	Len Rix
Language	Hungarian
Publisher	Széchenyi Irodalmi és Művészeti Rt.
Publication date	1942
Published in English	2007

Translated from the Hungarian by Zimbabwe-British translator Len Rix, ISBN 978-1-901285-79-6 and ISBN 978-1-901285-90-1 for the reprint edition.

External links

• PushkinPress.com English editions of works by the author Antal Szerb
• Financial Times Review by Alberto Manguel
• Review in The Guardian
• Review by Complete Review