"...but I preferred reading the American landscape as we went along. Every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing."

Next Quote

One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set it. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.

— Jonathan Raban