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Title: The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles ISBN: 0-88001-582-9 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (76 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Terrifying and Exhilarating Journey
Comment: Paul Bowles' 1949 novel, "The Sheltering Sky" is a phenomenal, terrifying, and exhilarating journey into the depths (or surfaces?) of human existence. That's a lot of work for a novel to do, but this one pulls it off. This is a novel that deals with three Americans on the run from themselves, from each other, and from preconceived notions of identity. Set in the aftermath of World War II, the novel exposes and disrupts firm ideas of national identities and international relationships - between the Americans, French colonials, Arabic African natives, and a wealth of other ethnic/national categories - and shows how they react to and resist each other.
"The Sheltering Sky" begins with Porter and Katherine Moresby, a married couple who have never stayed in any place too long, in a North African city, with the intention to casually move from one place to the next, idealistically hoping to stay away from "the places which had been touched by the war." Accompanied by their wholly annoying friend Tunner, they embark upon an unplanned meander southwards into the vast, forbidding Sahara. The remainder of the novel shows these characters' adventures in Africa, and the resulting changes to their highly individual, naively constructed ideas about being-in-the-world.
Among other points of interest in "The Sheltering Sky," one thing that particularly grabbed my attention was the omnipresence of the main characters' sense of cultural superiority. Despite Port's early insistence that he is a 'traveler' and not a 'tourist,' he and his companions soon discover that knowledge of maps, hastily gathered information about the next town on the route, and knowledge of the French language are insufficient to acclimate them to their surroundings and insure their comfort. The novel does an excellent job of disrupting cultural stereotypes, particularly of the region's Arabic inhabitants, as the travelers make their way south into the Sahara, further and further away from 'civilization' as they understand it. It also forces us as readers to take into account the perceptions of what we consider foreign from the point of view of 'foreigners' in their own element.
The journey southward exposes the characters increasingly to peril - threats of thievery, disease, and existential despair - and the environment plays a large role in this. The sky itself, often characterized similarly to Ahab's 'pasteboard mask' in Melville's "Moby Dick," as sheltering the characters from knowledge of the infinite, looms as a challenge to each of the characters. Continual encounters with sand, heat, hills, and the difficulties of transportation complicate the experiences of Port, Kit, and Tunner. The most independently mobile and problematic characters in the novel, the British/Australian Eric Lyle and his eternally irascible mother, provide an interesting counterpoint to the strictly-considered 'native' or inherently existing impediments to travel and stability.
"The Sheltering Sky" is a very oppressive and depressing novel - but don't let that stop you from picking it up - sometimes oppression and depression are necessary to force us to reconsider our relationship to the world. The novel is as vital and 'timeless' now as it was in 1949, and perhaps even more important now. The philosophical, social, cultural, and geopolitical currents of Bowles' novel make "The Sheltering Sky" worth a careful read.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fine writing; challenging reading
Comment: The scope of Paul Bowles' *The Sheltering Sky* is two-fold: on the outside it is the tale of three young Americans traveling around North Africa after the World War. In a deeper level it is really a terrifying, exhilarating journey into the depth of human existence. Kit and Port Moresby's marriage was jeopardized. They came to the desert to escape from civilization, to escape from one another. The couple had never settled down in any one place, but rather they casually intended to move from one place to another in Africa in order to avoid places that had been touched by wars. The couple was also joined by a mutual friend Tunner and with whom emarked on a journey into the forbidden Sahara. What this book strikes me the most is the way Bowles examines the ways in which Americans apprehend an alien culture (as well as alien land). The very same apprehension at the end in a sense destroyed these Americans. As they emarked on their journey, further and further away from civilization, we can see how the cultural superiority of these fellow Americans dominate their thoughts-how they not trust the locals, the Arabs, the porters of town, the butler at inns. The journey forced these Americans to push the limits of human life. Each one of them was touched by the unspeakableemptiness and impassive cruelty of the desert. I don't want to give away the ending of the tale but this is definitely not a page-turner as you, the reader, will have to emark yourself on this journey and think about the limits of human reason and intelligence, about the powerlessness in controlling our fate. Beautiful prose, challenging reading. 4.2 stars.
Rating: 3
Summary: Sentimientos encontrados (Review in spanish)
Comment: (Review in Spanish).Como muchos seguramente, emprendí la lectura de este libro tras haber visto la película del mismo nombre de Bernardo Bertolucci. Encontré que el film es bastante fiel a la novela en algunos puntos, mientras que partes importantes de la novela (como la narración de la historia de las hermanas que querían tomar el té en el Sahara) fueron omitidos de la película.
Pero, ¿Cómo es el libro? Por el lado bueno, la prosa de Bowles es intensa y precisa, transportando al lector al calor, la basura y el encanto particular de Africa .Algunas frases son memorables. Por el lado malo, Bowles tiende a alargar demasiado ciertas situaciones (la enfermedad de Port, el viaje personal de Kit), haciendo con ello difícil y tediosa la narración.
En suma, el libro tal vez es para aquellos que ya conocen a Bowles o los que estudian Letras, aman la literatura, etc. Los lectores casuales pueden rentar la película y acabar con el asunto en un par de horas, ahorrandose tiempo y dinero, y quedar igualmente satisfechos.
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Title: The Spider's House by Paul Bowles ISBN: 0876855451 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title:The Sheltering Sky ASIN: B0000696IB Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $17.98 |
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Title: The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain ISBN: 0679723250 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 May, 1989 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: The Stories of Paul Bowles by Paul Bowles ISBN: 006093784X Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Hundred Camels in the Courtyard by Paul Bowles, Jack Bowles ISBN: 0872860027 Publisher: City Lights Books Pub. Date: June, 1981 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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