First paperback edition. In this madcap metafictional mystery a 22yearold philosophy student Hortense is kidnapped and a dog is murdered the imaginary country of Poldevia is somehow involved. Arranged in the form of a sestina replete with authorial asides and plenty of puns jokes and wordplay this is the second installment in Roubauds popular and widely acclaimed Hortense series. A professor of mathematics at the University of Paris X Nanterre and a long time member of Oulipo the W