The stories are set in Bartol�??s native town Trieste, north-Adriatic port where two nations live side by side, in the time of Anglo-American administration of the region after the Second World War. The turbulent post-war atmosphere, full of political uncertainty, was a breeding-ground for conflict between the two ethnic groups, Slovenian and Italian, incarnated in the stories here in the earnest Slovenian journalist Pertot and his antithesis, the gung-ho Italian businessman Mangialupi.

As eminent critics have pointed out, Bartol�??s management of character and plot in Mangialupi represents Slovenian humorous prose writing at its best. In the stories quasi-art, quasi-politics and quasi-love suggest the true mechanisms of human life; Bartol�??s humour echoes Fellini�??s satire, revealing human weaknesses, but with sympathy and understanding.