Ippolit is one of the most fascinating inventions in literature that I can think of. To come across a gay, but married to a millionaire woman, a man so lazy that just talking tires him, with the juice of an orange dripping down his chin towards his Buddha belly, who clothes shops for his beautiful young wife … well it’s fun to meet this character in such a novel.

He REALLY reminds me of Otho from Beetlejuice.