Voyage du Prince Fan-Federin dans la romancie

A young prince, dissatisfied with ordinary court life, sets out to find a country where the adventures of romances are real. He reaches a fantastic realm populated by eccentric inhabitants and strange natural wonders, and the narrator catalogues its language, social customs, and institutions as a playful satire of novel conventions. Episodes examine distinctions between lofty and vulgar forms of romance, curious rites of love and marriage, local trades and manufactures, and encounters with legendary champions and a visiting princess. Amorous entanglements and public spectacle build toward a lamentable catastrophe that unsettles the tale’s romantic pretensions.