At first glance, the novel gives us the impression of a travel description; the narrator, an Austrian who has just separated from his wife, crosses America from coast to coast. With his pockets full of traveller's cheques, he starts from the East Coast, from Providence, and, passing through New York and Philadelphia, reaches the West Coast, in Bel Air, Los Angeles. His wife follows the same route separately, to meet towards the end at the Pacific - and the tension between them peaks and subsides in the final pages.
However, it is not just a journey to the New Continent. At the same time, the author speaks to us, without insinuations, about a personal wandering in the subjective space of his memories, about a hesitant and at the same time deliberate exploration "of this time and the other", about his first steps in the new world of his soul, "after the separation". The boundaries that separate these two worlds are not clear. However, their landscapes are described with detail and persistence.
He struggles to convince himself of the reality of the new world, which, however, presents itself to him as tentative, as experimental. Handke says that for this reason he chose America. Just as he crosses this new and distant unknown country, so does his effort to change himself cross the book from end to end.
The novel falls within the great tradition of German-speaking literature of wandering, where the hero shapes and discovers himself during the journey.

Peter Handke's novel was published in 1972. The book has many autobiographical elements. Handke's separation from his wife is recent. So is his trip to America. The narration is in the first person: an "I" that remains anonymous. Handke himself says: "The mental states and developments described in the book are autobiographical. However, the external story is fictional, except for some insignificant details".

The edition is accompanied by a note from the translator, a timeline, and a bibliography.