Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Wanderer

The Wanderer

Bruce, Stephen A.
Veltman, Alexander

Paperback

Series: Northwestern World Classics

HumorGeneral Fiction

ISBN10: 0810149036
ISBN13: 9780810149038
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Published: Nov 15 2025
Pages: 296
Weight: 0.79
Height: 0.73 Width: 5.59 Depth: 8.49
Language: English
The first English-language translation of an eccentric, unclassifiable classic

An unnamed narrator embarks on a rambling journey across the diverse borderlands of the Russian and Ottoman Empires--all without leaving his divan. Drawing on his own experiences in Bessarabia during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29, A. F. Veltman describes our Romantic narrator poring over a map and traversing distant, contested regions--at once imperial backwaters and cosmopolitan crossroads--where Romanians, Ruthenians, Jews, Bulgarians, Germans, and Turks comingle.

Meandering and motley in form and language, this lost classic of the early nineteenth century deploys metafictional innovations that anticipate postmodernist literature. The novel is speckled with dictionary entries, multiplication tables, philosophical digressions, and love poetry as Veltman swings from Gothic horror to antiquarian commentary to burlesque comedy. Past, present, and fantasy blend together, as Alexander the Great, Ovid, and Augustus join the narrator on his daydreamed journey of self-discovery.

Hugely popular in its day, The Wanderer is a remarkable tale that depicts the extraordinary places and peoples that met along the fault lines of once-great empires.

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