Knut Hamsun (Mysteries, Pan, Hunger, Victoria...) wrote a travel book about a journey to the Caucasus, translated a few years ago as In Wonderland. I'm near completion of this short, entertaining book. He evokes the landscapes and sketches cities and towns (Moscow, which thrills him; Tiflis; Baku, etc.), up-close things (melons, hollyhocks...), delays, cheats, dust, bedbugs; Hamsun occasionally indulges in humorous fantasies that are still amusing; he fusses about a spot of wax on his coat, participates in a horsemeat feast, tries to provoke an Englishman, whose taciturnity irritates him; pities several animals that he sees mistreated along the way; ponders the fatalism of Muslims; successfully deceives a bureaucrat with a passport and a visiting card that don't match; opines about Russian authors (he admires Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, et al.) -- the world's greatest literary giants; and more. He rides by train, horse-drawn carriage (over mountain roads), walks, etc. I liked knowing that he had Sibelius's card since Sibelius is my favorite modern composer. He's followed by a con man who tries to pass himself off as a Russian spy assigned to monitor him and who assures him of favorable treatment for a monetary consideration, that sort of thing. This book, translated by Sverre Lyngstad, would have been a worthy entry in the Penguin Travel Library. What I have is an advance copy from Ig Publishing from 2004.
