Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgements xi
4. Introduction xiii
5. FIRST PARTITION
6. Embarkation 3
7. Purification 8
8. Of Music and Cannibalism 11
9. Doing My Part 19
10. The Melancholy Pilgrim 21
11. Bread and Circuses 30
12. Boucherie Chatar 37
13. Designated Desire-Lines: Planning a New Road 40
14. Further Purification of the Pilgrim 48
15. Enrobed 55
16. Of Love and Jewels 60
17. Behind the Blue Door (Inside the Private Shop) 66
18. From the Literal to the Allegorical and Back 72
19. Wittgenstein’s Lion and a Cappuccino Sea 78
20. Virtual Streets and Gateways: The Plans Revisited 84
21. Cosmonauts and Coleslaw 93
22. St. Edmund’s Well and a Faded Warning 97
23. SECOND PARTITION
24. Making Do and Getting By 105
25. Egyptian Vagabonds, Afternoon Men, and the Malus Genius of Our Nation 113
26. Losing the Key 118
27. Bed-Sits and Birārdari 122
28. What They Think You Can Bear: Football, Religion, and Nightmares on the Cowley Road 129
29. Between Two Fires: Pulling the Dragon’s Teeth 133
30. Melancholy, an American Photographer, and the Irish Writer 141
31. Cowley Road Calling 143
32. Just Less Lucky 145
33. Dreadlocks and Rim-Shots: Reggae at the Zodiac 152
34. Of Lepers, Lunatics, and Layabouts 158
35. Dancing Sand and Zum-Zum Water 171
36. Junior Jihad 176
37. Of Books and Bitumen 177
38. Carnival 179
39. Returning to the Source 186
40. THIRD PARTITION
41. A Journey in the Hinterland 197
42. Into the Furnace 200
43. Blessings and Tribulation 205
44. A Graveyard Reborn 215
45. Finding a Clue 220
46. Of Bats and Mutton Curry 223
47. Margaret’s Story 227
48. A Hidden Pool 234
49. The Liquid Kingdom 245
50. The Gateways Close 248
51. Of Robots, Wild Rhubarb, and the New Oxford Way 252
52. Things Fall Apart: An Ending of Sorts 269