"Djibouti, a hot, impoverished little country on the Horn of Africa, is a place of great strategic importance, for off its coast lies a crucial 'passage' for the world's oil. Djibril, a young Djiboutian voluntarily exiled in Montreal, returns to his native land to prepare a report for an American economic intelligence firm. Meanwhile, a shadowy, threatening figure imprisoned in an island cell seems to know Djibril's every move. He takes dictation from his preaching cellmate known as his 'Venerable Master' but, as the words are put on the page, a completely different text appears--the life of Walter Benjamin, Djibril's favorite author"--From publisher description.