Jan Potocki was an aristocrat whose wealth allowed him to travel extensively, engaging in political intrigue and secret societies. His vast journeys across Europe, Asia, and North Africa fueled his deep interest in linguistics, history, and ethnology, establishing him as an early modern explorer and scholar. Potocki's fascination with the occult and his pioneering spirit led him to pursue diverse interests, from early hot air balloon flights to founding a publishing house and a reading room. His most celebrated work is a novel employing a frame narrative, lauded for its intricate structure and interwoven tales, earning comparisons to classics like The Decameron and The Arabian Nights.
'… a Gothic novel, quite an extraordinary piece of writing' Czesław Miłosz 'a work of magical intricacy which carries the torch of fantasy into our own century. The baffled Alphonse is a precursor of the Kafka hero or the automata of the nouveau roman' Dawid Coward
Alphonse, a young Walloon officer, is travelling to join his regiment in Madrid. But he soon finds himself mysteriously detained at a highway inn in the strange and varied company of thieves, brigands, cabbalists, noblemen, coquettes and gypsies, whose stories he records over sixty-six days.