When I get to Durbin, I'm going home. Suffice it to say, the traveler gets to where he doesn't want to go. The traveler, as I call him, seems clearly an earlier incarnation of the John Twelve of The Ethiopian Exhibition , who wanders on motorcycle through the wilderness of Ethiopia, only to arrive at an elaborate movie set and an unexpected role. The towns themselves, as wonderfully heterogeneous populations, constitute the main actors in the movies being shot in the novellas of the Trilogy . The Wilderness , in contrast, straightforwardly explores a humanity-crowded wasteland of grit and beauty.
Indian city is Indian city, African bush African bush.
The portrayal of alienation focuses on the living heart of the matter. And the beauty in the writing evokes beauty even in the grit.