William Vollmann - The Atlas

This book was inspired by Yasunari Kawabata's "palm-of-the-hand stories," which I enjoy rereading at bedtime, in the five minutes between lying down and turning off the light. It is equally pleasurable for me to page through a certain great atlas that I have, idling over unknown countries while I wait for my companion of the evening to finish brushing her teeth. The writing of these stories has given me the same sort of desultory joy. As James Branch Cabell remarked, "Toward no one of those pre-eminent topics of my era do I feel incited to direct an intelligent and broad-minded concern." What you hold, then, is but a piecemeal atlas of the world I think in. I hope that you like it, in spite of its omission of a continent or two. And if you were to keep it by you as a pillow-book, reading through it in no particular order, skipping the tales you find tedious, dozing amidst my somniferous paragraphs, I'd feel that at last I'd done as much good in the world as the manufacturers of our drowsiest codeine syrups. Slide it under your buttocks when commencing the night's revels. Slay the nightmarish flies of sleep with its hard covers. Lay it across your eyes to guard yourself from light. And may your soul flit freely across this world! For, despite the opinion of a certain Transcendentalist, who informed us that "traveling is a fool's paradise," other philosophers reverence the salubriousness of a change of clime. Consider the school essay of a second grader of Cambodian origin. The children were asked to expound upon the topic "The Future." This boy wrote:

IN the Future I would like the world to be a war zone IN CHINA. I hope I will be in the NAVY to help the USA NAVY to Kill ALLIES. I will Kill polpot and his men and famliy. I will come back as a heor. I will be the only CAMBOADIAO on the ship.

May we all kill our best allies before they kill us. And so, reader, good night.*

W.T.V.

* For those who require games and calculations in order to drowse, I should state that this collection is arranged palindromically: the motif in the first story is taken up again in the last; the second story finds its echo in the second to last, and so on. In addition, certain tales have tides in common with books I have previously written; they are thematic reductions in the manner of Kawabata's short "Snow Country," derived from his novel Snow Country. (However, while Kawabata's metonym contains material present in the parent tale, my own attempts use new material, because we Americans like new things.) As for the title story, that contains a little something from each of the others.

Mount Aetna, Sicily 37.45 N, 15.00 E

Afghanistan

Agra, Division of Uttar Pradesh, India 27.09 N, 78.00 E

Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada 45.50 N, 78.20 W

Allan Water, Ontario, Canada 50.15 N, 90.14 W

Antananarivo, Madagascar 18.52 S, 47.30 E

Avignon, Department Vaucluse, Provence, France 43.56 N, 4.48 E

Bangkok

(Krungthepmahanakhornbowornrattamakosinmahintarayuthayama- hadlikokpopnopparatratchathaniburiromudomratchaniwetmahasathan),

Phrah Nakhon-Thonburi Province, Thailand (Prathet Thai)

13.44 N, 100.30 E

Ban Rak Tai, Mae Hong Song Province, Thailand

Battambang City, Province Battambang, Cambodia 13.06 N, 103.13 E

Battle Rock, Oregon, U.S.A.

Beograd, Serbia, Yugoslavia 44.50 N, 20.30 E

Berkeley, California, U.S.A. 37.52 N, 122.17 W

Berlin, Germany 52.32 N, 13.25 E

Big Bend, California, U.S.A. 39.16 N, 120.39 W

Bologna, Emilia Romagna, Italia 44.30 N, I 1.20 E

Boot Hill, Nebraska, U.S.A.

Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 42.20 N, 71.05 W

Budapest, Hungary 47.30 N, 19.03 E

Cairo, Egypt 30.00 N, 31.15 E

California, U.S.A.

Capri, Campania, Italia 40.33 N, 14.15 E

Charlevoix, Qubec, Canada

Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand 18.48 N, 98.59 E

Churchill, Manitoba, Canada 58.45 N, 94.00 W

Coral Harbour, Southampton Island, Northwest Territories, Canada 64.10 N, 83.15 W

Cornwall, Ontario, Canada 45.02 N, 74.45 W

Delhi, India 28.40 N, 77.14 E

Diesel Bend, Utah, U.S.A.

Elma, Manitoba, Canada 45.50 N, 95.56 W

Eureka, Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada 80.00 N, 85.40 W

Frankfurt am Main, Germany 50.06 N, 8.41 E

Goa, Goa, India 15.31 N, 73.56 E

Grand Central Station, New York City, U.S.A. 40.40 N, 73.58 W

Great Western Desert, Northern Territory, Australia

Guildwood, Ontario, Canada

Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.A. 43.42 N, 72.17 W

Herculaneum, near Napoli, Campania, Italia 40.50 N, 14.15 E

Highway 88, California, U.S.A.

Highway 395, California, U.S.A.

Ho Mong, Shan State, Burma (Myanmar)

Home

Hong Kong, territory of United Kingdom, Southeast Asia 22.20 N, 114.15 E

Interstate 80, California, U.S.A.

Inukjuak, Quebec, Canada 58.25 N, 78.15 W

Jaipur Province, India

Japan

Jerusalem, Israel/Jordan 31.47 N, 35.13 E

Joshua Tree National Monument, California, U.S.A. 34.09 N, 116.20 W

Karenni State, Burma (Myanmar)

Key West, Florida, U.S.A. 24.34 N, 81.48 W

La Loma, near Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico 19.25 N, 99.10 W

Limbo

Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. 34.00 N, 118.15 W

Lutton, Oklahoma, U.S.A.

Madagascar

Mae Hong Song, Mae Hong Song Province, Thailand 19.18 N, 98.01 E

Mahebourg, Mauritius 20.24 S, 57.42 E

Malachi, Ontario. Canada 49.56 N, 94.58 W

Marakooper Cave, Tasmania, Australia

Masada, Territory of Judea, Israel 31.19 N, 35.21 E

Mendocino, California. U.S.A. 39.20 N, 123.46 W

Mexicali, Estado de Baja California, Mexico 32.28 N, 115.29 W

Mexico

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico 19.25 N, 99.10 W

Mission-Sainte-Marie, Midland, Ontario, Canada 44.45 N, 79.53 W

Mobile, Alabama, U.S.A. 30.40 N, 88.05 W

Mogadishu, Somalia 2.02 N, 25.21 E

Mont-Pellerin, Canton Vaudois, Switzerland

Montral, Qubec, Canada 45.36 N, 73.38 W

Nairobi, Kenya 1.17 S, 36.50 E

Napoli, Campania, Italia 40.50 N, 14.15 E

Nevada, U.S.A.

New Orleans, Louisana, U.S.A. 30.00 N, 90.03 W

New South Wales, Australia

New York City and State, U.S.A.

The Nile River, Egypt

North America

Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. 41.15 N, 96.00 W

Orillia, Ontario, Canada 44.36 N, 79.26 W

Ottermere, Ontario, Canada

Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.A.

Paris, Dpartement Paris, Rgion Parisienne, France 48.52 N, 2.20 E

Philadephia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. 40.00 N, 75.10 W

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 11.35 N, 104.55 E

Pickering, Ontario, Canada

Poland

Pompeii, Campania, Italia 40.45 N, 14.27 E

Pond Inlet, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Canada 72.40 N, 77.59 W

Port Hope, Ontario, Canada 43.58 N, 78.18 W

Puako Bay, Hawaii, U.S.A. 19.58 N, 155.49 W

Reddit, Ontario, Canada

Redfern, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 33.55 S, 151.10 E

Resolute Bay, Cornwallis Island, Northwest Territories, Canada 74.40 N, 95.00 W

Rice Lake, Manitoba, Canada 47.44 N, 82.08 W

Roberts Camp, Wyman Creek, Deep Springs Valley, California, U.S.A. 37.21 N, 117.59 W

Roma, Italia 41.53 N, 12.30 E

Sacramento, California, U.S.A. 38.33 N, 121.30 W

Samuel H. Boardman State Park, Oregon, U.S.A.

San Bruno, California, U.S.A. 37.37 N. 122.24 W

San Diego, California, U.S.A. 32.45 N, 117.10 W