East London creatives (ELCs) are easy to spot. They wear carpenter’s trousers and Gore-tex to Columbia Road Flower Market, have weirdly strong opinions about tomato varieties and enjoy fiery debates about which Zone 2 pub serves the best Guinness. They might even have the Yves Klein blue cover of a Fitzcarraldo book poking out of the pocket of their chore jacket, signifying cultural cachet. The publisher, based out of an old warehouse in Deptford, has a knack for championing authors who go on to win Nobel Prizes. It also specialises in foreign language literature that is often described as “challenging”.
When ELCs read Fitzcarraldo’s latest, as they inevitably will, it may feel a little close to home. Perfection is Italian writer and art critic Vincenzo Latronico’s fourth novel, translated here by Sophie Hughes.
