One evening in the carnivalesque world of eighteenth-century Naples a foolhardy young Spaniard, don Alvaro de Maravillas, plays the daredevil - literally - and summons the Evil One himself. Never one to miss his appointments, the Demon appears, assuming various guises before setting into the form of a charming young servant boy who turns out to be a girl. Resorting to the most human of wiles to try to win the young nobleman's affections, the Devil, as the lovely Biondetta, then lulls don Alvaro into thinking that her needs are the same as those of any other tearful young woman, and proceeds to take him for the ride of his life through Venice and back to his home in Spain. AUTHOR Jacques Cazotte (October 17, 1719 ? September 25, 1792) was born at Dijon and he was educated by the Jesuits. Cazotte then worked for the French Ministry of the Marine and at the age of 27 he obtained a public office at Martinique. It was not till his return to Paris in 1760 with the rank of commissioner-general that he made his public debut as an author. His first attempts, a mock romance and a coarse song, gained so much popularity, both in the Court and among the people that he continued pursuing this career. REVIEWS There is only one word to describe this novella: delicious. Landry's translation is spot-on, and retains much of the sparkle and humour of the original French. It's a beautiful little story, drawing on traditions of the Cabbala, the elemental spirits, and a lot of well-known medieval myths, and is utterly chilling even for modern audiences. No wonder Cazotte is considered by some as the father of the French fantastic. A F Dillon "a brief but sparkling bon-bon from the French writer Jacques Cazotte, who was guillotined in 1792. A young captain, stationed in Naples, is tempted into summoning up Beelzebub, who appears first in the guise of a hideous camel, then as a cute spaniel, and lastly - and most dangerously - as a gorgeous, pouting nymphette who declares herself enamoured of the young man and follows him everywhere. This is an amusing study of temptation, with sinister undertones." Anne Billson in Time Out
