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      TOM LANOYE is an award-winning, highly acclaimed Belgian novelist, poet, and playwright. Starting out as a poet and critic, he became famous for his prose and drama, as well as his politically and socially engaged columns and his unique cabaret-style performances. He is the author of more than fifty works of poetry, drama, and fiction. His bestseller Speechless, voted one of the most popular “new classics” in Belgian and Dutch literature, sold over 150,000 copies in the Netherlands and Belgium and was awarded several major prizes. Speechless was published in the US in October 2018. Lanoye has won many literary prizes, including the prestigious Constantijn Huygens Prize for his entire oeuvre. His work has been translated into fifteen languages. Slaves to Fortune was shortlisted for both the Libris Literature Prize and the AKO Literature Prize. Tom Lanoye lives in Antwerp and Cape Town.

      MICHELE HUTCHISON studied at UEA, Cambridge, and Lyon universities and worked in publishing for a number of years. In 2004, she moved to Amsterdam. Among the many works she has translated are La Superba by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, both Craving and Roxy by Esther Gerritsen, and An American Princess by Annejet van der Zijl. She also co-authored the successful parenting book, The Happiest Kids in the World.

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      AUTHOR

      ‘I wanted to write a novel which struck a balance between Albert Camus and Quentin Tarantino. Between classic European existentialism and a typical American-thriller exploitation—between merciless analysis and merciless fun.

      These two extremes led me inevitably to a duo of protagonists: Tony and Tony. They would have to have the same name and the same appearance, but beyond that they should have little in common. Except for one thing: each of them needs the other to redeem himself, and at the same time both realize they will have to betray the other for their own redemption. In this way you automatically end up with a literary rock-’n’-roll version of the age-old doppelganger motif.

      From the start, I had one more clear principle: the book had to take place on many continents, but never in Europe, though Tony and Tony are inhabitants of Europe through and through. I wanted them to find themselves lost in a world that has become too vast for its inhabitants and in which the Old Continent has henceforth become as peripheral as its many colonies of times past.

      The fragmentation of Tony and Tony needed to embody the fragmentation of all contemporary global citizens—but first and foremost that of the once so proud and now completely confused European.’

      TRANSLATOR

      ‘Flemish is a pyrotechnic version of the Dutch language so I shed many tears trying to replicate Tom Lanoye’s linguistic brilliance. Luckily my bouts of sobbing were interspersed with hoots of laughter because he is a great comic writer too.’

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      Tom Lanoye

      Slaves to Fortune

      Translated from the Dutch

      by Michele Hutchison

      WORLD EDITIONS

      New York, London, Amsterdam

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      Published in the USA in 2019 by World Editions LLC, New York

      Published as Fortunate Slaves in the UK in 2015 by World Editions Ltd., London

      World Editions

      New York/London/Amsterdam

      Copyright © Tom Lanoye, 2013

      English translation copyright © Michele Hutchison, 2015

      Cover image © Frauke Schumann

      Author portrait © Tessa Posthuma de Boer

      This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The opinions expressed therein are those of the characters and should not be confused with those of the author.

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data is available

      ISBN Trade paperback 978-1-64286-046-7

      ISBN E-book 978-1-64286-053-5

      First published as Gelukkige Slaven in the Netherlands in 2013 by Prometheus, Amsterdam

      The translation of this book was funded by the Flemish Literature Fund (Vlaams Fonds voor de Letteren—www.flemishliterature.be)

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

      Twitter: @WorldEdBooks

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