"La 628-E8" by Octave Mirbeau is a narrative published in 1907. This unclassifiable work blends travel memoir, fantasy, and social commentary as Mirbeau journeys through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany in his Charron automobile. Neither true novel nor conventional travelogue, the book celebrates both the automobile as a transformative force and the promise of Franco-German friendship for European peace. The narrative also includes controversial chapters about Balzac's death that scandalized readers and were removed after initial printing. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
