First published in 1907, The 628-E8, one of the masterpieces of French literature and one of the ever-eccentric Octave Mirbeau's most eccentric works, is here presented for the first time in an unabridged English version, excellently translated by Colin Boswell.

Is it a novel? Is it a travelogue? Is it a diary?

While it might be none of these, or all of the above, it is most certainly a collection of dreams, reveries, memories, impressions, and tales which, quite frequently, have no relationship to, or visible link with, the countries visited. An experimental work of metafiction far ahead of its time, The 628-E8, a literary potion of extreme potency, will continue to stun readers, more than one hundred years after its original publication, with its honest iridescence.