In 1790, while serving in the Piedmontese army, the French aristocrat
Xavier de Maistre (1763-1852) was punished for dueling and placed under
house arrest for forty-two days. The result was a discursive,
mischievous memoir Voyage Around My Room, and its sequel, Nocturnal
Expedition Around My Room. Admired by Nietzsche and Machado de Assis,
Ossian and Susan Sontag, this classic book proves that sitting on the
living-room sofa can be as fascinating as crossing the Alps or paddling
up the Amazon.
In addition to the Voyage and Expedition, this edition also includes
the dialogue "The Leper of the City of Aosta," a preface by Xavier's
better-known older brother (the royalist philosopher Joseph de Maistre),
and an introduction by Richard Howard.