Jane Sullivan profiles author Antoni Jach in "The Age" over the weekend. Jach is the author of Napoleon's Double which has been perplexing a few book reviewers of late.
Describing Napoleon's Double isn't easy, because it's not a simple historical adventure; it doesn't rely on the attractions of narrative or character; nobody accomplishes great deeds; and the reader is not even sure whether something really happened.But what it does have is ideas. Jach's naive young narrator never tires of exploring his exciting new worlds through the exciting ideas of French thinkers such as Diderot, Rousseau and Voltaire.
What he discovers is often uncannily similar to modern philosophical obsessions and enables Jach to take a quizzical and sometimes satirical view of everything from how to live a good life to the foundations of a relaxed and comfortable Australia.
