The Anatomist

First edition in English. 8vo. Pp. vi, 215, [3 (blank)]. Quarter-bound black cloth over black paper-covered boards, stamped in copper to spine; decorative endpapers. Dust jacket design by Jean Traina.

Translated from the Spanish by Alberto Manguel. Originally published as El anatomista by Editorial Planeta, Buenos Aires, in 1997.

Author's first novel. A fictional account of the heretical "discovery" of the clitoris by a 16th-century Italian anatomist, oddly mirrored in the book's own reception in its home country, where its principal themes – sex, science, power and censorship – were played out in real life.

Awarded the prestigious Fortabat Prize, its wealthy sponsor denounced the jury's selection by placing adverts in Buenos Aires newspapers, warning that the book did not ''contribute to the exaltation of the highest values of the human spirit.'' The Fundación Fortabat nevertheless implemented the jury's unanimous decision, forcing María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat to dismiss its members and discontinue the prize. Grudgingly, however, the cement heiress and pillar of Argentine society handed over to Mr. Andahazi the advertised $15,000 in cash, yet withheld the prize.

The uproar fuelled the novel's explosive sales in Argentina but also piqued the interest of foreign publishers, inducing Doubleday to pay $200,000 for the book's English-language rights, one of the highest advances ever paid to an Argentinian author. "A fascinating book... gripping, a pleasure to read, and a very fine novel." –Iain Pears, author of An Instance of the Fingerpost