Mangeclous

Mangeclous is one of Solal’s cousins, Solal himself having become deputy secretary-general of the League of Nations in Geneva.

On the Greek island of Cephalonia, Solal’s cousins and uncles, nicknamed “the Valorous,” receive a mysterious telegram from Switzerland: a coded message resembling a treasure hunt. The four Valorous are instantly ready for action: Mangeclous, an insatiable epicurean and consummate fabulist who picks his teeth with nails; Sartiel, Solal’s uncle, the mad inventor; Salomon, the timid one learning to swim breaststroke in a basin; and Mathathias, the fearful one. Not forgetting Rachel, Mangeclous’s wife, a hypochondriac ogress weighing 120 kilos who spends her life cataloguing her medicines.

On the eve of the Second World War, Mangeclous contains a biting and invigorating satire of the League of Nations, mocked at length in a virtuoso comic tirade on food and gluttony.

A good copy in wrappers; browning to the upper margin of the cover.