The Ethiopian Exhibition

While World War II rages in Europe, John Twelve climbs onto a four-cylinder Indian Motorcycle and Crosses Ethiopia, searching for truth, for beauty, for mystery.  At the same time, a modern American girl strolls the streets of Puerto Vallarta, where she is accosted by a film director--actually Ahmed, an Ethiopian murderer.  He is making a film, he explains, about a man crossing the Ethiopian desert on a motorcycle.  The girl accepts a starring role--and with this embarks on an adventure that takes her beyond the limits of ordinary reality.  Her companions on this mystery tour include Sheba, the 3,000-year-old Queen of Ethiopia;  Prestor John, the legendary King of Ethiopia; and the Emperor Halle Selassie, the Conquering Lion of Judah.  The innocent American girl, now called Dominique, watches the amazement and alarm as the worl reveals and escoteric reality that she never knew existed.  In The Ethiopian Exhibition Stuefloten continues his obsessive examination of delusion and violence begun with his first novel, Maya.