The Land Across

Publication(s)

2013 Tor edition

First publication by Tor Books (hardcover), 26 November 2013; jacket photography by Stephen Carroll, David et Myrtille/Trevillion Images

Comments from Gene Wolfe from an interview by C.S.E. Cooney

"There’s a young man. His father is dead – or he believes his father is dead. He’s grown up all over the world, because his father was in the State Department. He has written a travel book about Austria. English is his cradle language, but he picked up others – some German, French, and Japanese – when he lived in those countries.

"He decides to write another book about a different European country, 'on the other side of the mountain,' from Austria. This country is a surreal Balkan nation, formerly under the Communist government, anciently invaded by the Turks, completely fictional.

"The young man is arrested as soon as he enters this country. His passport is taken, his luggage is taken. The police there bring him to the house of a man they do not like – this is the kind of thing the police do – and explain to him that he is to live in the man’s house. He must sleep there every night; should he escape, his host will be shot. And they give him as a little hint: 'If you don’t like the food, you can threaten to escape.'

"And it goes on from there."

Analysis

Summary

Complete plot summary -- SPOILERS

Comments

General comments on place in Wolfe's corpus
Sources of quotes
Meanings of names
References to other works
Etc.

Interpretations

Alex Carnevale posted his guide on his blog.