Suzi Feay

The pursuit of beauty

In this enigmatic novella, Michelangelo travels to Constantinople to advise the Sultan on building a bridge across the Golden Horn

  • Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants

    Mathias Enard, translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell

    Fitzcarraldo Editions, pp. 137

Michelangelo seems never to have travelled to Turkey to advise the Sultan on a bridge to span the Golden Horn, but he was asked to provide an architectural drawing after the design of his great rival, Leonardo da Vinci, was rejected. An ‘Author’s Note’ to this enigmatic novella references a sketch attributed to Michelangelo ‘recently discovered in the Ottoman archives’, together with a list purporting to be an inventory of possessions he left behind.

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