The Tartar Steppe (Italian: Il deserto dei Tartari, lit. 'The desert of the Tartars'), also published as The Stronghold (La fortezza),[1][2] is a novel by Italian author Dino Buzzati, published in 1940.[3] The novel tells the story of a young officer, Giovanni Drogo, and his life spent guarding Bastiani Fortress, an old, unmaintained border fortress. The novel was ranked 29th on Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century list.
The novel has been translated into English by Stuart C. Hood, in 1952, and by Lawrence Venuti, in 2023.[4][5][6]