![]() ![]() The novel is rich in its depiction of relationships, and you have to think about what X meant when he said what he did to Y. Sometimes you’ve read the book or poem referred to, or know something about the topic, and feel a glow of cultural satisfaction, but sometimes you’ve never heard of it. You get drawn into thinking about these issues. But the main interest is that the characters are discussing poetry, philosophy, literature, the rule of law, economic systems, and so on. It’s a novel that can be read in several ways. Much of the novel is taken up with the conversation at a salon at which Sophie, daughter of a minor aristocrat, presides. ![]() He is addressed as Herr Hans by most of the characters, placing him in an intermediate position between the servants and the aristocrats whom he meets. It is some time before we learn the name of the inn, and we never learn Hans’ surname. The innkeeper is Herr Zeit, whose name (Mr Time) underlines one of the themes of the novel. It is winter, Hans is cold, and he breaks his journey at Wandernberg, at an inn. between the ancient states of Saxony and Prussia”. It opens with a man, Hans, travelling by coach towards Wandernberg, a town of shifting boundaries and situation, “sit. Traveller of the Century is set in post-Napoleonic Germany, after 1815, at one of the great turning points in European history, and in a country at the centre of Europe, struggling to come to terms with new ideas conflicting with tradition and custom. ![]()
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