Odamda Yolculuk- Odamda Gece Seferi

Autour de ma chambre #1-2

by Xavier de Maistre

What do you do when you find yourself imprisoned in your room for 6 weeks? Xavier de Maistre, a 27-year-old Frenchman found himself in this uneasy situation when he was arrested in Turin after a duel, in the Spring of 1790. But with only a butler and a dog for company, Xavier de Maistre managed to fill his time by embarking on a journey around his bedroom, later writing an account of what he had seen. Whether venturing from his bed to his sofa, or even to his mirror, he wears his "traveling outfit"--his favorite pink and blue pajamas. Out of his forced reclusion comes a captivating fantasy--a novel take on travel literature that would inspire many later writers, including Marcel Proust. This edition also contains de Maistre's "A Nocturnal Expedition around My Room." Xavier de Maistre was a military man, who supplemented his army career with short works of fiction.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Travel, Philosophy, France, French Literature, Literature

179 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1825

About the author

Xavier de Maistre of Savoy (at the time, a region of the Kingdom of Sardinia), lived largely as a military man, but is known as a French writer. The younger brother of noted philosopher and counter-revolutionary Joseph de Maistre, Xavier was born to an aristocratic family at Chambéry in October 1763. He served when young in the Kingdom of Sardinia army, and wrote his fantasy, Voyage autour de ma chambre (Journey Around My Room, published 1794) when he was under arrest in Turin as the consequence of a duel.

Xavier shared the politics and the loyalty of his brother, and after a French revolutionary army annexed Savoy to France in 1792, he left the service, and eventually took a commission in the Russian army. He served under Alexander Suvorov in his victorious Austro-Russian campaign and accompanied the marshal to Russia in 1796. By then, Suvorov's patron Catherine II of Russia had died, and the new monarch Paul I dismissed the victorious general (partly on account of the massacre of 20,000 Poles after he conquered Warsaw). Xavier de Maistre shared the disgrace of his general, and supported himself for some time in St. Petersburg by miniature painting, particularly landscapes.

In 1803, Joseph de Maistre was appointed the Sardinia's ambassador to the court of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia. On his brother's arrival in St. Petersburg, Xavier de Maistre was introduced to the Minister of the Navy, and was appointed to several posts including director of the Library, and of the Museum of Admiralty. He also joined active service, and was wounded in the Caucasus, attaining the rank of major-general. In 1812 he married the Russian lady, related to the Tsars, Mrs. Zagriatsky, and established himself in his adopted country, even after the overthrow of Napoleon, and the consequent restoration of the Piedmontese dynasty.

Reviews

[Meaghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 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.

[The Frahorus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un giovane ufficiale di stanza ad Alessandria, fratello minore del celebre Joseph (famoso per Le serate di Pietroburgo), Xavier de Maistre venne arrestato nel 1790 per aver partecipato a un duello. Per punizione viene messo in quarantena a Torino e nei quarantadue giorni di forzata inattività e di noia che ne seguirono compose senza alcuna velleità letteraria questa breve opera che, pubblicata cinque anni dopo, venne immediatamente salutata come un piccolo capolavoro.

Consigliato da un amico, ho deciso di leggere questo piccolo capolavoro sconosciuto ai più scritto alla fine del 1700. La storia è autobiografica, infatti ci descrive i viaggi sia fisici ma soprattutto mentali di questo giovane soldato obbligato a restare chiuso in quattro mura ma libero di spaziare con la sua fantasia. Così parte dallo scrittoio per giungere ai quadri appesi, ci descrive il suo servitore e quello che vede dalla finestra, fino ai suoi amori passati. Questa edizione contiene anche una sorta di seguito, ovvero Spedizione notturna nella mia camera, che mi è piaciuto di meno.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a misleading title, as the promised journey is simply a pretext for a series of Tristram Shandy-style digressions. When those digressions are this varied, witty and wise, however, it's hard to complain. Not many writers can discuss mind-body dualism and make you laugh out loud at the same time...

[Brian Want · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5 stars.) An officer in the Savoyard/Piedmontese/Sardinian army (that's a historical rabbit hole you can go down sometime), Xavier de Maistre is punished with a 42-day house arrest for a duel. He undertakes a "journey" around his room, and though he offers thoughts on specific objects, including a famous passage on mirrors, the excursion is really around his headspace, digressively and with a flowery, companionable style. As he says, "I go from discovery to discovery."

After the success of the first Journey, he later composed A Nocturnal Expedition, most of which is spent on a "horse" (really a ladder), looking out a high window onto the city of Turin. Both of these are charming and delightful, and I would urge readers not to skip the second merely because it is lesser-known.

Xavier de Maistre offers his gentle readers a sensitive blend of nostalgic remembrances, armchair philosophy, self-deprecating life lessons, amusing observations, and straight-up daydreams. From contemplating the mind-body problem to reflecting on a dried flower and from being humbled by a dutiful servant to getting lost in a painting, the work moves swiftly and pulls to the wistful, but it does so warmly, an uncommon achievement.

Certain books, I suspect, naturally appeal to those of us who live alone and who, while not reclusive, possess an inner life more varied and vibrant than our outward engagement suggests. I confirmed de Maistre as a kindred spirit when he described the end of his house arrest: "To-day, then, I am free, or rather I must return to bondage." I was fortunate to come across this work at an uncannily appropriate time: as the country tentatively reopens amid widespread COVID vaccination, I recognize the indisputable good of such news but also feel a bit melancholy, for I had come to love the inner tides of a sanctioned solitude.

[Merve Eflatun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odanın sadece bir oda olmadığı, kendi kişiselleştirmemizin aynı zamanda düşünsel yolculuğumuzun bir parçası olabileceği keşfedilmeden yıllar önce yazılmış bir kitap. Belki de öncülerinden biridir.

[Orçun Güzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

De Maistre, ustası kabul ettiği Laurence Sterne gibi bir dalıp gitme ustası ve konu dışına çıkma meraklısı. Türü olmayan, anı, gözlem, şiirsellik, fantezi, düşünce arasında gidip gelen bu iki anlatıda daldan dala atlıyor; çağrışımlar onu nereye sürüklerse oraya gidiyor. Ve tüm bunları bir oda içinde gezinirken yapıyor. Evlerimize kapanmak zorunda kaldığımız bugünlerde, bize duymak istediğimizi söylüyor: Hayalî yolculuğun gerçek yolculuktan daha yeğlenir olduğunu.
Ben, ilk metin olan Odamda Seyahat’tense, 35 yıl sonra, altmışlı yaşlarında yazdığı Odamda Gece Seferi’ni daha etkileyici buldum – duyarlılıkları daha güçlü, mizahı daha komik ve şiirsel düzyazıyla ân üstüne düşüncelere daldığı kısımların tadı bambaşka.
NOT: Kimi yerlerdeki aristokratik saptamaları ve maskülen dili banal olsa da, yazarlığına diyecek yok.

[Jaymee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An underrated little book that speaks widely about what spaces really mean. How do we define them, and how to they define us? Being under house arrest for 42 days, de Maistre wrote about his room and all that's in it, showing how our immediate environment reflects the outside. His successors delve deeply into this through a more challenging topography: the desk. But from it, the bed, the house, the building, the street, the city, and beyond. They remind us how one needs but a small space to see the entire world.

[Nostalgia Reader]

Read on Archive.com here.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discussed this charming little book with my dad and he suggested it sounded vaguely like Proust (not that I have read any Proust). The author sits in his room and contemplates his possessions and all that he can see around him, which sparks a chain of memories and contemplation. Thus, 'A Journey around My Room' is like Proust, but glib and flippant. Although de Maistre discusses some quite profound matters, he always adds a certain absurd bathos to them, or suddenly breaks off to mention something superficial. The author gives the impression of being an indolent, contented aristocrat who disdains and dismisses the French Revolution for considering people like him parasites. I am more inclined to sympathise with the revolutionaries. Although de Maistre is a pleasant fellow and his book enjoyable to read, he clearly has a very strong sense of entitlement.

In the first part of this volume, de Maistre is under house arrest for dueling and introduces us to his dog Rosine (who gives every impression of being adorable) and his manservant Joannetti (who gives every impression of being long-suffering). He discusses a theory of humanity as consisting of soul and beast (the latter referred to with feminine pronouns, an interesting translation choice), but does not explore the implications in any depth. In the second part, de Maistre has moved house and sits on his windowsill, contemplating the stars, love, and what Fatherland (presumably 'La Patrie') means to him. I enjoyed this latter voyage more, as the image of him balancing upon the windowsill was vivid and amusing, moreover he seemed more inclined to poke fun of himself. My favourite bit was probably chapter 14, in which he contemplated being a ruler who makes a law that everyone must take time to look up at the sky. This hypothetical law then requires endless caveats, such that it does not apply to the sick, the blind, lovers, etc. In the end, he give up and asks his aide to write a memo about it.

I found the book a pleasant read, as I am myself more inclined to travel through daydreams than in a literal sense. de Maistre is rather a reactionary wastrel, though, and his ideas about women are strange.

[Melina Sanches · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's exactly what I expected it to be. A Walden-like small diary filled with nature contemplation, solitude in small rooms near the fire and the comfort of a writing desk and a bed near an open window. There are moments of boredom, where the author chooses to randomly write about extremely especific themes of the human nature and the society of his time when compared to the ancient Athens and the classic geek plays, and it makes obvious how he sees his privilege inside his cozy home through poetic and sentimental eyes, which is actually very pretty to see. He's a classic example of an INFP that's way too far into his vivid daydreaming to get bothered by his boredom, and instead chooses to dive deep into this experience of escaping reality by analyzing its implications on the division between the mind and the body, the brain and the heart, the reazon and the passion and the apparantly-non-existent diference between experiencing something and imagining it. It's about literally living through different times, places and stories and not actually going anywhere. A memoir of an abstract adventure that naturally honors the beauties created by the mind through dreams and longing memories.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantastic concept; dreadful execution. This book is a loose collection of personal reflections vaguely connected by the “journey around my room” theme. One could argue that the book looks forward to Proust (as suggested in the Introduction), but I found it more reminiscent of Baltasar Gracián’s “mirror” writings (minus the dark bent) or the later works of Italo Calvino, both of whom make grand, sweeping statements in the second person that are intended to be Profound but come off as empty generalizations cloaked in ornamental language.

I had expected this book could go in any number of different and interesting directions, like the personal and political writings of Benjamin Constant, or a more Proustian read (per the Introduction), or a more philosophical discussion of aesthetics such as offered by Schiller, or even perhaps a literal journey around the room (which de Maistre makes a half-hearted attempt to enact as a unifying gimmick), but instead I was subjected to a collection of disappointing musings that barely constitute personal essays.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My three-star rating might be a little harsh because it's a combined rating for both stories in the book. A true evaluation would be four stars for the first story in the collection and two stars for the second.

The first part, "A Journey Around My Room," was wonderful. It captures emotions that are difficult for people to write about like malaise, wealthy guilt, and simple pleasures. I loved it and thought the entire story from start to finish was witty and sweetly written.

The second part, "A Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room," focused more on modern philosophy...if you lived in the late 1700's. Debates about the theories of the enlightenment, whether or not man is ruled by head or heart, and the role the government should play in one's life absorb most of the text. It got a little dull - and was not nearly as delightful or as timeless as the first story.

All around worth the read, though and I would recommend it to people.

[Metin Dirim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Önceki bölümlerde de gördüğümüz gibi, gelecekteki davranışlarımda ihtiyatlı bir şekilde hangi yolu izleyeceğime parlak bir mantıkla karar verdikten sonra, çıkacağım seyahatle ilgili açıklığa kavuşturmam gereken tek bir önemli nokta kalmıştı Ne de olsa arabaya ya da ata yerleşmekle iş bitmiyor, insanın nereye gitmek istediğini de bilmesi gerekiyordu. Az evvel zihnimi meşgul eden o soyut fikirler yüzünden o denli yorulmuştum ki, dünyanın hangi köşesine gideceğimi seçmeden önce, hiçbir şey düşünmemek suretiyle biraz dinlenmek istedim.
Bu da yine bizzat kendi keşfettiğim, bana çok kereler büyük faydalar sağlamış olan bir varolma tarzıdır. Ancak bu yöntemi kullanmayı bilmek öyle herkesi harcı değildir. Zira tamamen bir konuya odaklanarak derinlemesine düşünmek kolay olsa da, düşüncelerinizi bir anda, tıpkı bir duvar saatinin sarkacını durdurur gibi durduruvermek hiç de kolay değildir. Moliere kuyudaki suda halkalar yaparak eğlenen adamı hiç gereği yokken alay konusu etmiştir. Oysa ben bu adamın, insan aklının gerçekleştirebileceği en zor şeyi yapabilen; dinlenmek için zihninin işleyişini durdurabilen bir düşünür olduğuna inanmayı tercih ederdim. Bu yetenek kendilerinde Allah vergisi olarak bulunan, hiçbir şey düşünmeden yaşayan kimselerin beni fikir hırsızlığıyla suçlayacaklarını, bunu benden önce kendilerinin bulduğunu iddia edeceklerini biliyorum. Ancak benim bahsettiğim zihinsel hareketsizlik hali, onların yaşadığı ve M. Necker'in övdüğü zihinsel durgunluktan çok farklı bir şeydir. Benim bahsettiğim hiçbir şey düşünmeme hali tamamen isteyerek yapılan, geçici bir haldir. O anın tam anlamıyla tadına varabilmek için, yorgun bir atlının eyerinin önüne tutunması gibi ben de iki elimi pencereye yaslayarak gözlerimi kapattım, geçmişin hatırası, şimdinin duyguları ve gelecek düşüncesi ruhumdan silinip gitti.

Odamda Seyahat - Voyage autour de ma chamber (1794)
Odamda Gece Seferi - Expédition nocturen autour de ma chambre (1825)

Xavier De Maistre

[Hanako · Rating 3 out of 5]

i only read the first part (a journey around my room) and i liked it but didn't love all of it. i felt out of place reading it

[Patrick King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. A somewhat existential exploration of the powers of imagination- a tad intense.

[Heidi]

Kirjaan sisältyy kaksi matkakertomusta, jotka ovat melko omintakeisia idealtaan. Äänessä olivat sentimentaalisuus vastakkain järjen kanssa. Tekstit olivat itsetutkiskelua, havaintoja, mielikuvittelua, tunnepuskuroitua, parodistakin. Kirjoittaja kuvaa myös naisia ja naisten ihailua (pelastusfantasiat... ja ajattelin, että ei kyllä kovin hyvin tunne naisia, nainen vaikuttaa olevan kirjoittajalle etäinen vieras olento, jota on tällöin helppo ihannoida ja kritisoida).

Ensimmäisessä tekstissä kirjoittaja on tilanteessa, jossa hän on joutunut kotiarestiin pariksi viikoksi ja ei saa poistua huoneestaan. Hänellä on seurana miespalvelija ja koira. Hän käy tekstissä konkreettisesti huonettaan läpi. Huonekaluista huomion saavat esimerkiksi sänky, kirjoituspöytä, seinällä olevat taulut ja nojatuoli. Koin tekstin itsekohosteiseksi. Hän reflektoi omaa makuaan, tietojansa, omaa aikaansa, ajatteluaan jne. huoneessaan oleviin huonekaluihin ja esineisiin.

Toinen lyhyempi teksti kuvaa neljää myöhäisen illan ja yön tuntia. Tässä tekstissä hän tuo esille syvempiä tuntojaan, ajatuksiaan, haaveilua, pelkoja, muistoja, ideologiaa, moraalia, havaintojaan, mutta tekstissä myös kiidetään katseella avaruudessa kiintotähtenä Pohjantähti ja toisaalta erityisesti vähemmän kirkkaat tähdet. Tekstissä ihaillaan myös naapurin naisen ihanaa lauluääntä ja tohvelia, kirotaan luostarin kirkonkellot ja ratsastetaan ikkunalla.

Pidin kirjan ideaa kiinnostavana ja hauskana (teksteissä oli tahatonta komiikka minulle myös). Tekstit veivät minut 1700-1800-lukujen taitteen ihmisen kotiin, elinpiiriin ja ajatteluun.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

De Maistre has some wonderful insights about the journey we ought to take into the familiar, and the powerful insights we can grasp from exploring our close surroundings and memories, but like all older philosophers and writers (and perhaps all prescriptive writers in general) he fails by being too confident in his personal perspective as a universal set of values. He’s also clearly a bit bitter about women due to his unreturned and frustrated romantic desires, which, though he mocks it a little, are clearly highly affecting him and from a woman in the 21st century’s perspective are a little ridiculous and oftentimes misleading. Very interesting, but I don’t wholly agree with the author/feel he should be taken so seriously.

[Alex Sarll]

With an acknowledged debt to Sterne, a young Frenchman under house arrest in 1790 writes an account of his travels - which, as the title suggests, take him no further than the bedroom door. Except by association, of course, and there's the rub, for through association he can roam infinity. Neither the 'Journey', nor its sequel 'A Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room' (also included here) is quite on Sterne's level, but then who is, especially in translation*? Still, there is a whimsy here, mixed with a melancholy and a numinous sense, which by any other standard are most impressive.

*No disrespect intended to translator Andrew Brown, whose prose is both charming and fluent.

[Jasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like old travel narratives and stories written in the 18th-19th centuries and I sometimes look for them online, as you can find them for free in archive.org or project Gutenberg. I found this and decided to read the book now that I myself have been in a forced Coronavirus isolation at my home in Italy for 35 days and counting. This book is at the same time funny and auto-ironic but also lightly philosophical. I highly recommend it if you like philosophical treatises and the literature of this era. And if you don't know it yet, this is a good easy book with which to find out.

[Luciano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viaje alrededor de mi cuarto es una historia de pequeños episodios, lleno de detalles inesperados alrededor de cosas tan cotidianas y absurdas que sorprenden lo bien que están entretejidas, junto a las observaciones del narrador, los pequeños diálogos, y las pequeñas imágenes de ese cuarto que parece un universo aparte lleno de posibilidades.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

No olipas mielenkiintoinen herra ja varsin hervoton matkakertomus. Jo pelkkä kirjan idea sai minut nauramaan ääneen. Tämä pieni kirja oli täynnä hurmaavaa parodiaa, mutta myös älykästä, filosofista pohdintaa. Minun sieluni tosin lähti liitelemään ja harhailemaan suomentajan tekenmien alaviitteiden mukana, mikä häiritsi muuten varsin herkullista lukukokemusta.

[Artur Nowrot]

I remember having to pause in the middle, because I'd read Anthony Hope not long previously and apparently two old-timey aristocratic guys in one month is a bit much for me; but I loved the concept, the humour, and most of the author's musings. A pleasant journey (or rather two) overall.

[Mateus Pereira · Rating 5 out of 5]

My life.

[Lauri Laanisto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Läksin tõlkija kirjutatud sissejuhatuse järel jube elevile, et nüüd tuleb midagi väga-väga head. Aga vist lasin oma erutuse vinti pisut üle keerata. Mida iganes ma sellest raamatust ootasin, seda ma sealt ei leidnud. Või õigemini - ma ootasin, ajastust ja paigast lähtuvalt enam-vähem just täpselt sellist teksti koos sedasorti mõtetega. Kuid see tekst mõjus mulle nagu tõhus magamajäämise abivahend. Mitu kuud proovisin, nii õhtul, päeval, kui hommikul, nii kurjalt kui kurvalt. Aga ei hakanud jooksma, vajus mu ajus täiesti laiali, hajus uttu ja mis mul muud üle jäi kui minna tuttu. ja jätta raamat pooleli... Oma toa reisikiri, samuti oma keha ja hinge lahutamine kaheks sõltumatult tegutsevaks tüübiks - need on väga toredad ideed, arvestades veel et 18. sajandil juba said kirja pandud. Mulle meenusid seda lugedes Toomas Kuke 90ndatel avaldatud lood Eesti Looduses (tal oli vist ka kaasautor, aga ei mäleta enam, ja pole ka sada prossu kindel, et EL, ehk oli hoopis Rukililles) talvisest ja öisest botaanikast. Aga nood olid konkreetsemad, sirgjoonelisemad, ehk isegi kuivemad tekstid. Ja mu meelest sedasorti äraspidist vaadet (milleks kahtlemata reis oma toas ju on) tulekski esitada just sedasi, mitte göötelikus sõnauiutamises, sest kui juba vundament on väga abstraktne, siis ehitada selle otsa veel üks udune torn - see taristu lihtsalt ei püsi koos...

[Elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The musings of an 18th century Frenchman confined under house arrest to his rooms for dueling. He decides to travel around his room (in his traveling jammies) through memories inspired by his belongings and philosophical ponderings. His reflections are charming and humorous, tinged with a petit soupcon of melancholy.

[Cemre Mercek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yazarın ilki zorunlu ikincisi keyfi olarak yapılan, odada ama aslında zihnin tüm köşelerinde, deliliğin sınırlarında gezen iki yolculuguna eşlik ediyoruz eserde. Betimlemeler benzetmeler çok keyifli, yazarın zihninde sürükleniyor bir yandan da farklı konuları sorguluyoruz..hayal dünyası içinde yaşamın gerçeklerini sınıyoruz.. farklı ve keyifli bir okumaydı..öneriyorum...

[Ezops · Rating 3 out of 5]

Main idea is that life is not so boring as long as you like daydreaming even if you are locked up in your own castle with a bunch of servents and friends visiting you occasionally for 42 days.

Among that, the writing was lovely, even poetic at times.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 200 year old microcosmic journey around a single room made relevant once more with virus lockdown orders. Unique and fun.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Xavier de Maistre seems like he was just a silly little guy having a laugh (in a good way) and I liked the rambling narrative of his short Journeys. It was fun!

[Emily Drennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read while trapped in my room with covid. Opened my eyes to the power of human imagination.