The Crossing: Border Trilogy (2): Vol 2 (Vintage International)

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What role does hospitality play in this book? Is there any relation between the novel’s scenes of hospitality and its moments of violence? When Billy finally catches the animal, he harnesses her and, instead of killing her, determines to return her to the mountains of Mexico where he believes her original home is located. He develops a deep affection for and bond with the wolf, risking his life to save her on more than one occasion. The novel mentions other locations in the US where Billy visits. However, these locations were primarily used to establish a sense of time between his second and Third Mexican journeys. Other places in the US are also mentioned during the end of the book, but again, these mentions are more to set the mood rather than serve as an actual part of the plot. As such, these extraneous locations are not shown on the map.

Le quattro parti in cui è suddiviso il libro sono una più bella dell'altra. La prima, quella che descrive il rapporto tra il protagonista e la lupa, credo comprenda le pagine più belle mai scritte sulla relazione che si può instaurare tra un essere umano e la natura. Le altre tre parti parlano d'altro, e non ho intenzione di accennarvi nemmeno una parola a riguardo.

I gatti si muovevano, il fuoco scoppiettava nella stufa. Fuori, nel villaggio abbandonato, il silenzio più profondo. In what ways does The Crossing resemble classic myths and fairy tales? How do Billy and Boyd Parham compare to the figures that Joseph Campbell describes in The Hero with a Thousand Faces? About this Author Along the way of his third journey, he meets with several other travelers as well as people who give him food and shelter when needed. The people he meets all have stories to tell and their own versions of life they want to share: He said that most men were in their lives like the carpenter whose work went so slowly for the dullness of his tools that he had not time to sharpen them. Ambientato negli stessi territori del precedente, il confine col Messico: anche se questa volta la parte americana è un po’ più a ovest, il New Mexico, invece del Texas (anche se poi la copertina direi che mostra Zabriskie Point – ma magari all’Einaudi pensano che tutti i deserti sono uguali). The process involved using base maps of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico from 1922 as well as a Texaco Road Map of Arizona and New Mexico from 1935. The road map was surprisingly inclusive of geological features. These maps, especially the Mexican maps, were supplemented with detailed searches of Google Maps for villages of the mentioned names. I was surprised to see that the Mexican Maps mentioned places such as El Tigre in Sonora, Mexico and San Diego in Chihuahua, Mexico.

This spiritual aspect to the novel creates a sense of depth. The instinctive behaviors of wolves, the unexplainable cruelty of man, and the peaceful nature of people unencumbered by modernity are periodically explored. It’s this exploration, however, that is drawn out a bit more than necessary at various points throughout the novel. Before he reached the door the old man called to him again. The boy turned and stood. The matrix will not help you, the old man said. He said to catch the wolf the boy should find that place where the acts of God and those of man are of one piece. Where they cannot be distinguished. The old man said that it was not a question of finding such a place but rather of knowing it when it presented itself. He said that it was at such places that God sits and conspires in the destruction of that which he has been at such pains to create.”

The people in The Crossing are characterized by a kind of psychological opaqueness. Since we rarely know their direct thoughts, we must infer their motives from their words and actions, which often seem cryptic or irrational. How do we come to know these characters? What vision of human nature does their opaqueness suggest?