Tatarlaste kõrb. Dino Buzzati

«The Tartar Desert» (1940) is the story of a young officer who is sent to work in a garrison located far away and almost deserted in the mountains. The young man begins to feel a real homesickness and dreams of returning to a normal life. Despite everything, the officer remains in the beautifully described mountain landscape for several decades – hoping that one day an enemy will arrive, against whom he would one day have his moment of glory.

Dino Buzzati (1906–1972) is a well-known Italian writer, poet, playwright, illustrator and journalist. Buzzati's style is characterized by a soft and simple structure that balances the surreal and the fantasy world on the border.

«The Tartar Desert» is Dino Buzzati's most famous work. Buzzati has a wonderful ability to paint pictures of real life for the reader. From the very first page, it seems as if the author is describing the reader's own life story with all its troubles and joys.

Buzzati was inspired to write the work while working for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. After a particularly routine and boring night shift, the writer stated: "I often felt that this routine would never end and that it was a completely pointless waste of my life."