Idealistic young officer Giovanni Drogo is full of determination to serve his country well. But when he arrives at a bleak border station in the Tartar desert, where he is to take a short assignment at Fort Bastiani, he finds the castle manned by veteran soldiers who have grown old without seeing a trace of the enemy. As his length of service stretches from months into years, he continues to wait patiently for the enemy to advance across the desert, for one great and glorious battle . . .
Written in 1938 as the world waited for war, and internationally acclaimed since its publication, The Tartar Steppe is a provocative and frightening tale of hope, longing and the terrible sorcery of dreams and desires.
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One September morning, Giovanni Drogo, being newly commissioned, set out from the city for Fort Bastiani; it was his first posting. CHAPTER ONE
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(@canongatebooks, 4 October 2018, first published 1940, paperback, 288 pages, bought from @LRBbookshop, translated by Stuart C Hood)
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LRB BOOKSHOP
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This is a new author for me. I'd likely never have stumbled across him if not for my LRB Subscription Box. I don't quite know what to make of this book. I really enjoyed it. It's a strange book, an odd little bugger. It haunted me. It's a surreal, often confusing book. At times I wondered if the fort was actually a version of purgatory and Drogo and the other officers were actually dead waiting for their souls to be taken somewhere. This idea is the only way I could make sense of much of what happened. Why else would Drogo stay in such a place for 30 years? There are also references to the other officers wanting to leave but feeling compelled to change their mind. I really enjoyed this strange little tale.