<P><B>One of the greatest bestsellers of 18th-century literature, accompanied by de Maistre's sequel, <I>A Nocturnal Excursion Around My Room</I></B></P><P>Finding himself locked in his room for six weeks, a young officer journeys around his room in his imagination, using the various objects it contains as inspiration for a delightful parody of contemporary travel writing and an exercise in Sternean picaresque, humorously demonstrating what one can explore without having to set off to exotic locations. Accompanied here by its equally superb sequel, <I>Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room</I>, in which a similar voyage is made at night several years later, <I>Journey Around My Room</I> is a masterly and innovative piece of writing, which was immensely<br>popular in its time and would later influence Victor Hugo and Marcel Proust, among others.