The Enormous Room

E. E. Cummings's singular autobiographical novel plunges readers into the surreal, claustrophobic world of La Ferté Macé, a French detainment camp during WWI. Arrested alongside his friend B. on suspicion of espionage while serving as an ambulance driver, Cummings finds himself confined to 'The Enormous Room,' a communal cell teeming with a bizarre, unforgettable cast of characters. Rather than a linear narrative, Cummings offers a series of vivid, almost hallucinatory portraits of his fellow inmates—from the enigmatic 'Delectable Mountains' to the mundane routines of 'la soupe' and courtyard strolls—all rendered in his distinctive, experimental prose peppered with colloquial French.