Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Parizo, Librairie Hachette et Cie
Description
Finding himself locked in his room for six weeks, a young officer journeys around his room in his imagination, using the various objects it contains as inspiration for a delightful parody of contemporary travel-writing and an exercise in Sternean picaresque, and humorously demonstrating what one can explore without having to set off to exotic locations. Accompanied in this volume by its equally superb sequel, Nocturnal Expedition around My Room, in which a similar voyage is made at night several years later, Journey around My Room is a masterly and innovative piece of writing, which was immensely popular in its time and would later influence Victor Hugo and Marcel Proust, among others.
User reviews
LibraryThing member DieFledermaus
This delightful little book is a mock-travel memoir filled with philosophical musings and wandering tangents. The author decides that he will undertake a journey around his bedroom – good, he notes, as it is free, safe and effortless. De Maistre was actually under house arrest for dueling – he
The other section is a journey around another room of his at night. A hard-to-reach window plays a major role in this journey and the author thinks about nature and the stars and also has an adventure with a neighbor of his. It is more of the same, but I was happy to have the same.
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doesn’t mention this in the book, but does say that circumstances made him take the trip earlier than he planned. He proceeds around his room, describing how it looks and the furnishings. However, these musings tend to go off on tangents, as his thoughts wander to women he loves, his faithful dog Rosine and his loyal servant as well as art and music, literature, society, friendship and death. The most notable philosophical tangent in this one is his dialogue between the body and the soul – he calls the former ‘the beast’. There were a number of comic gems and relatable writing – where he describes how out for a walk the beast keeps going though the soul is off elsewhere so he ends up somewhere unplanned. I’ve done this both walking and driving. There are a number of clever metafictional bits a la Tristram Shandy – he even references that work.The other section is a journey around another room of his at night. A hard-to-reach window plays a major role in this journey and the author thinks about nature and the stars and also has an adventure with a neighbor of his. It is more of the same, but I was happy to have the same.
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LibraryThing member meggyweg
I don't get it. This book was apparently a great seller when it first came out back in the 18th century, and people found it profound or something. I only find it silly and self-indulgent. If it had not been less than 70 pages long (I only read the first book, not the second nocturnal one) I could
Unless there's something I'm completely missing -- and there must be, I guess I'm just not the type of person for this book -- this was only a waste of paper and a waste of my time.
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not have finished it. I can certainly understand why someone, confined to their room for over a month in the days before internet and television, would write something like this to pass the time. But why PUBLISH it? More to the point, why READ it?Unless there's something I'm completely missing -- and there must be, I guess I'm just not the type of person for this book -- this was only a waste of paper and a waste of my time.
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LibraryThing member henrique.maia
This is a masterpiece one should read at least once in his/her lifetime. The humourous remarks, the way we are brought to travel with the author in the confinements of his room, his soliloquies within his soul, they all bear witness to mankind's ineffable capabilities of imagination.
LibraryThing member kevn57
How to journey around the world and not leave your room. My favorite chapters dealt with mindfulness and his library.
Original publication date
1795