Filippo D’Angelo’s debut novel, La fine dell’altro mondo (2012; The End of the Other World; recently translated from Italian into French by Christophe Mileschi as La Fin de l’autre monde), is set against the backdrop of Berlusconi’s Italy. A disgusted witness to the failure of his generation, its protagonist, Ludovico, flirts dangerously with alcoholism. This brilliant and disillusioned 30-something, the son of a good family, flourishes only in the ambiguous relationship he leads with his sister. With acuity and irony, D’Angelo describes the disillusionment of the present moment in a decaying Italy.