Il Deserto Dei — Tartari Libro

Buzzati gives us one of the most cruel, beautiful ironies in literature. After decades of waiting, the Tartars finally appear. The great battle is coming. But Drogo is no longer young. He is sick. He is sent away from the fort just as his life’s purpose arrives.

Young Officer Giovanni Drogo receives his first posting: Fort Bastiani, an ancient, crumbling stronghold overlooking a vast, empty desert. It is a place where nothing happens. The legendary "Tartar enemy" is a myth, a rumor, a ghost. Drogo promises himself he will stay just a few months before returning to the glamour of the city. But the days blur into weeks, the weeks into years, and the desert’s hypnotic emptiness does its work. He waits. He waits for glory. He waits for the enemy. He waits for life to truly begin . il deserto dei tartari libro

You have probably never stood on a cold, gray rampart staring at a dust horizon. You have probably never worn the uniform of a frontier garrison. And yet, if you read Dino Buzzati’s 1940 masterpiece, Il deserto dei tartari (The Tartar Steppe), you will feel an uncomfortable, intimate chill. Because Buzzati isn’t really writing about a military fort. He is writing about your life. Buzzati gives us one of the most cruel,

If you enjoyed this, check out our post on “The Myth of Sisyphus” and why we choose our own boulders. But Drogo is no longer young

This is the novel’s brutal thesis:

The Fortress of Our Own Making: Why Dino Buzzati’s “The Tartar Steppe” Haunts You Forever

If you pick up this book, you will recognize yourself in Drogo. You will look at the "desert" in your own life—the procrastination, the safe stagnation, the fear of choosing—and you will feel a jolt of terror.