The action is situated in 1849, where the Protagonist Robert Buford, a member of the upper class, is trying to chase away his inner demons by frequenting an opium den in London's Limehouse District. One day, after drinking Absinthe and smoking opium, the magical GREEN FAIRY appears, and he has a hallucinatory dream that turns nightmarish... ...In that Absinthe- and Opium-induced fantasy, Buford is a con-artist in Southampton, selling "Gold Certificates" which are claims to a half-acre of land in the area where gold is found, after the news of the California Gold Rush had spread to England. However, in a sting operation by the Police, he is apprehended but can escape. For his own safety, he decides to leave England for good. In order to escape unnoticed, he assumes the identity of a young missionary, Jonathan White, who is about to leave for Panama. White, who is set up by a young prostitute, Marie, whom he takes to his room for the night, is confronted by Buford the next morning and knocked out. Buford, before escaping on the boat that leaves for Panama, rapes Marie and cuts her face.In Colon, Panama, Buford is lying in a seedy hotel room, smoking opium. He was taken to the hotel by Marie whom he does not recognize. Marie takes care of him, and he tells her his story of coming to Panama as the priest Jonathan White. After a failed attempt to assume the post of his predecessor who disappeared under questionable circumstances, his journey takes him to the Panama Railroad Company where he is offered a job. The RR Company faces heavy losses amongst its workforce because the tracks are laid in a swampy area and workers die of malaria, yellow fever, snakebites and other causes. Before he starts his job as a priest, comforting the dying men, he is asked by the RR Company's boss to accompany a wealthy woman, Lady Lennox, through the jungle to Panama City which is a 50 kilometer long strip, called the "Yankee Trail" - for many men return from California with gold in their pockets and pass through this strip (since no Transcontinental Railroad existed at that time.)On their journey through the Yankee Trail, while taking a rest, they witness a couple of strangers depositing bags into a hollow tree trunk. It turns out, that the bags contain opium - meant for the Chinese workers at the RR Company - and they take them. Lady Lennox persuades Buford to find a buyer for the drug at their next stop, and after the deal is completed, she invites Buford to bed. Asking him to wash up first, gives her a chance to disappear with the money. Buford who has stashed away some opium for himself, gets hooked on it.When he arrives in Panama City, he is watched by Marie who sets him up so that she can take "care" of him in the hotel room. She supplies him with plenty of opium. Buford tells her his "story" until he asks her to tell him her story of coming to Panama. Marie does so and she reveals finally to Buford that she is the one whom he raped and cut a year ago. However, while Buford was passed out on opium, she cut off both his legs below the knees. When Buford wakes up, he has horrifying visions of torture and his own death. Slowly he is realizing that his legs are cut off. In the last scenes the "real" Jonathan White, with whom Marie has planned to revenge her rape, appears, and he, as a man of god, graciously forgives Buford, but Marie's last words are, that she does not forgive.Buford awakes from his nightmare and realizes that it was all an Opium- and Absinthe-induced hallucination. But he also realizes that the young priest Jonathan White is his alter ego ... at least, that's what the GREEN FAIRY tells him, before she disappears.
About the Author: Jurgen Kleist is Professor of German at SUNY Plattsburgh, New York. In addition to scholarly contributions, he published Der Zauberer von Wien (novel), Nietzsche in Turin (novella), Zarans Reise (story), Zarathustra's Last Dance (play), The Cartoonist (screenplay), California Dreaming (screenplay) and Eine Liebe in Montréal (poem).