First published in 1767, Voltaire's satirical tale "L'Ingenu" was an immediate success. It was, Voltaire observed to his publisher, even better than "Candide" (in that it was more realistic), and readers - from Voltaire's era through to the present day, have accounted it one of his most entertaining works. Imitating a popular literary convention, the conte charts the introduction of an outsider into French society - a Huron who has arrived in Brittany. In the Huron's ensuing clashes with the church and the political administration, the naive gaze of this 'uncivilized' observer exposes absurdity and hypocrisy. Setting the story in the late seventeenth century, Voltaire offers a criticism of life under Louis XIV, as well as an allegory of eighteenth-century religious intolerance. Composed during the period of Voltaire's campaign against injustice of the sort perpetrated on Calas, Sirven and La Barre, "L'Ingenu" may be seen as portraying the type of the innocent individual persecuted by the state.

Just as Ezra Pound wrote an "Homage to Sextus Propertius" to pay tribute to an important influence, Juli?n R?os offers in his novel an "Homage to Ezra Pound" (as the original Spanish edition is subtitled). On November 1, 1972, news of Pound's death in Venice reaches three Spanish bohemians in London, passionate admirers of "il miglior fabbro" ("the better craftsman," as Eliot called him), who decide to honor Pound's memory by visiting various sites in London associated with him.

Filled with allusions to Pound's life and works and written in a style similar to Finnegans Wake, R?os's word-mad novel features the same characters from his first novel "Larva" the poet Milalias, his girlfriend Babelle, and their mentor X. Reis, each of whom writes part of the novel: Milalias writes the Joycean main text, Reis (as Herr Narrator) adds commentary on facing pages, and Babelle furnishes maps and photos. Together, they compile the "Parting Shots" at the end, dazzling short stories that expand upon incidents in the main text. Sound confusing? No more so than "The Cantos," and R?os is much funnier.