"Walking for half a day along an avenue might be more exhausting than, but was definitely equivalent to, spending a week anywhere in the countryside among the simple and isolated scenery of the interior. Yet they were not able to draw anything palpable from this urban plenitude, because it was deceptive: experience in the city might be more varied and abundant, but it was always less significant. There was no room for imagination (or the other way around: they could not find the imagination necessary for places that had already been defined and categorized)."
—
Sergio Chejfec, The Planets. Translated by Heather Cleary for Open Letter.
Have you noticed? The great literature of our time is about being unable to think through things by walking in cities. See also Edouard Leve, Teju Cole, Juan Goytisolo. This is the age of counter-Borges, from whom Auster served as a bridge.
