Swedish author Pär Lagerkvist won the 1951 Nobel Prize for Literature, partly thanks to this funny, wicked, and remarkable masterpiece, originally published in 1944. The dwarf catapulted Lagerkvist to international fame, but the book is now largely overshadowed (ahem) by his most famous novel, Barabbas. Still, this scathing little gem deserves a place on the shelf of discerning readers, alongside literature as dark, haunting, and unforgettable as Crime and Punishment and Notes from underground.

The dwarf tells the twisted story of Piccoline, an evil dwarf who served a corrupt court during the Italian wars of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. While the characters are fictional, they are familiar. The prince was likely inspired by the royal Renaissance prince and warlord Cesare Borgia, who figures prominently in Niccolo Machiavelli. Prince. Machiavelli based much of his theory of power politics on Cesare Borgia, and he would have loved it. The dwarf.

In crisp prose, Lagerkvist tells us, through Piccoline’s diary entries, of an Italian Renaissance city-state (think Milan or Florence) under a long and brutal siege. War, plague, and famine bring out the worst in one of literature’s most evil protagonists, a creepy misanthrope who doesn’t love as much as violence and destruction. Due to his small stature, Piccoline believes that he is not human at all, but of another race. This allows him to coldly murder his prince’s enemies and also a personal enemy. The only emotions he knows are hatred, malice, and a thirst for revenge. He is a fascinating, funny and unlovable wretch. Readers of George RR Martin’s popular fantasy series A song of ice and fire You may recognize Piccoline as the literary ancestor of the dwarf antihero Tyrion Lannister.

Lovers of Italian Renaissance history will get a lot out of this wonderfully sordid tale. The details of the period are rich and authentic, if slightly fictional. The prince of the novel is part Cesare Borgia, part Ludovico Sforza. Both historical Italian princes employed the artist Leonardo da Vinci as a war engineer, and Leonardo is memorably depicted in The dwarf of the artist Maestro Bernardo, who is fascinated (like Leonardo) with the grotesques, and who asks the hideous dwarf to model for a sketch.

An interesting possibility is that the dwarf does not exist at all. The character could be read as the dark side of the prince himself, who in this interpretation would be a Jeckyll and Hyde character who dissociates himself from his worst thoughts and actions by becoming the dwarf. The author drops several hints that this may be the correct interpretation.

The dwarf it’s a quick read. The prose is clean, the action sharp, the details riveting. There is a lot of black humor here, based on the recognition of our worst impulses. Piccoline never redeems himself, he remains amoral and unapologetic until the end. I recommend this novel both for sheer entertainment and as a philosophical exploration of the evil nature within all of us.