Doel-taal: Engels
By the way she expresses herself you clearly feel that it takes place in the 19th century. It takes place during the Romanticism, in a house in Switzerland, just outside the town of Ingolstadt.
There, he can work without interruptions because the house is situated a little away from the town so that nobody can come and disturb him. The book is hard to read in the beginning because it is written in 1st person singular and has many difficult words. You have the feeling that he, himself is telling what happens, which makes it better. You can couple some words with the environment like: