Novel by Dino Buzzati published in 1940, the original title is Il Deserto dei Tartari.
⚠️ Spoiler Alert - Going to talk about the ending of the novel.
The book tells the story of Giovanni Drogo, an army officer posted in a remote fortress at the border of an enemy kingdom. The fortress overlooks an endless desert, and most of the life there is going through routines of the repeated military operating procedures.
Throughout all the book there is a constant “waiting for something” state. On the way to the fortress, Giovanni dreams of the glory and looks forward to his posting there. At first, once he’s there first he’ll start waiting for his term there to pass, so that he can go back to the city life. But, adapting to the routine and through a series of events he will actually stay there for all his life, always waiting for the enemy to show up in the desert, at that point thinking that a war will bring an opportunity for glory and fame that he dreamed of reaching.
The book, through the reflections of the protagonist discuss many themes. The passing of time, the meaning that Drogo and the soldiers see in their life, the routines, growing distant from people that used to be familiar, their dreams, aspirations, hopes and delusions.
I believe that the whole book was really thought-provoking. Seeing the protagonist going through his entire life or just waiting for something to happen, not being satisfied with it, not being happy in the moment but always waiting for something. Seeing him letting go of his aspirations and dreams for the comfort of a routine and the hope that opportunity (even though deep down he knew it would never come) may come in the future.
The author explained his personal background a the time he wrote the novel (he was working for the Corriere della Sera ,“biggest” newspaper in Italy):
[…] from the monotonous nightly editorial routine I had in those days. Often I thought that this routine had to go on without end and that it would uselessly consume my life. It is a sentiment shared, I think, by the majority of men, especially if pigeonholed into the time-based “existence” in the cities. The transposition of this idea into a fantasy military world was almost instinctive for me. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_deserto_dei_Tartari
One of my (I guess not really only mine) interpretations of the book is really a call, to look into our life, seek meaning and ask ourselves deeper questions.
It made me think about a concept called Region Beta Paradox (it’s such a bad name, wiki). If life at the fortress had been really that bad, not “just bearable”, maybe the protagonist would have left early and wouldn’t have dedicated his entire existence to that long wait.
At the end of the book, the enemies finally come, but Drogo, much older and sick is transported out of the fortification. Suddenly when the moment he has been waiting for more than 30 years he still can’t face it. He will die soon after in a hostel far from the fortification, but the author note, he would be smiling. That last simile honestly was something that was not super clear to me. The author mentions that he actually finally is not scared of death and he sort of finally accepts his “fate”. So after all the struggles, lost hopes, and adverse fate, some people interpret it as the author offering some side of positivity as well.
It’s not a feel-great book, but for me it was definitely deeply a great book.