"This is how it started:" "After returning from Viet Nam, I was a great soldier." "I never said anything." "It gets your imagination going." "The rest is nothing but extreme fiction." "Our journey is completely imaginary." "That's its strength." "It goes from life to death..." "... man,animal,townand thing." "It's all imagination." "It's a novel, nothing but a fictitious story." "Trilobites are never wrong." "And after all, anyone can do the same." "You just have to close your eyes." "It's on the other side of the night." "There is a moment between two kinds of humanities..." "... whereonecanstruggle within the void." "That's exile, the stranger..." "... therelentlessobservation of life..." "... duringthoselong, lucid hours." "It is exceptional in the course of human time." "Your ways from a previous land abandon you..." "... althoughyouhavenot been besieged by new ones." "In Viet Nam, I had known a rather brutal loneliness..." "... buttheisolationinthe bustling American community..." "... wastakingaturnfortheworse." "From that time on, we saw..." "... theharrowingnature of white people..." "... goaded,freedandloose." "Their true nature..." "... likeduringthewar ." "Tropical steam room, out of instinct..." "... likea toad, a viper that comes in August..." "... againstthecrackedsides of prisons..." "... inthecoolnessofEurope,under  the discreet dullness of the North." "We merely suspect the cruelty of our brothers..." "... buttheirfilthpervades the surface..." "... astheyaretantalizedbythevile fever of the tropics." "Then comes the time to tear the clothes..." "... andtriumphantrubbish." "It's the biological confession." "When we are no longer slaves of work and cold..." "... amomentof respite..." "... wecanseewhitepeople, those ones who are." "Once the ocean recedes..." "... truth,thestenchofthepond..." "... thecrabs,thecarrion and the turd." "During youth, for the most arid indifference..." "... andthemostcynicalboorishness..." "... wefindthepretext of passionate whim..." "... thena signof unlearnt romanticism." "And much later..." "... whenlifehasshownyou all that she can demand..." "... cruelty,mischievousness..." "... onlytobe maintainedat37º..." "... youunderstand,youare ..." "... ina positionto understand all the rubbish..." "... fromthepast." "One only has to look at oneself punctiliously..." "... andtheruinsone has become." "No more mystery nor inanity." "All the poetry is gone, since we have lived to this day." "Beans, life." "The great defeat is to forget..." "... andaboveall,whatkilledyou." "And to die and never understand..." "... howrottenmenare ." "When we'll be over the hole, let's not be smart-asses..." "... butlet'snotforget,either." "We shall tell all, without changing a word..." "... aboutthemostviciousthing we've seen in men..." "... thenputdownone 'squid, then climb down." "That's enough work for a lifetime." "From afar, the tugboat has whistled." "Her call crosses the bridge." "Another arch..." "... anotherone,thelock, another bridge, far, farther." "She summoned all the barges on the river, all of them..." "... andtheentirecity,andthesky, and the water..." "... everythingthattookher away, and the river too." "Everything." "We shall talk no more about her."