The Labyrinth

'This travel book is truly a labyrinth—or, more precisely, a piece of the labyrinth that it has been my fate to wander, from the cradle to the grave.'

Jens Baggesen's The Labyrinth (1792-93) is a genre-bending and highly personal travel book that follows the young Danish author's journey, made in 1789, from Copenhagen through Germany to the Swiss border at Basel. In its outer form, it follows the conventions of travel writing: describing the cities, landscapes, and notable people encountere...