There is always the gulf between “them and us” – the French in which they converse with “the natives” is not translated, neither is Arabic heard in conversations, or the Arabic nouns and adjectives that appear throughout. I believe this is undertaken deliberately to convey a sense of how these American travellers might feel in response to the inhospitable landscape, but also to their own actions.
That the room meant very little to him is symptomatic of the sense of dislocation that is palpable throughout the story.Īnd it is almost as if we are kept at arm’s length throughout the story – not from the protagonists themselves, but from the setting. Of course, the reader's knowledge and insight of these complex souls deepens and broadens as the novel progresses, but I kept wondering whether Port does ever fully awaken.
The room meant very little to him he was too deeply immersed in the non-being from which he had just come". The novel opens with "He awoke, opened his eyes.
Perhaps this reflects my unfamiliarity with North Africa, because it appears that is how the protagonists seem to observe their surroundings – as if not quite accepting of the reality and remaining firmly detached.įrom the very start, we begin to understand how Port and Kit think. This perhaps lends itself to the clarity of vision he creates in his descriptions of the places encountered by Port and Kit, the central protagonists of The Sheltering Sky.ĭespite the evocative imagery of the deserts, sand dunes and untidy settlements of people spread across this rather abstract North African stage, it does, at least to me, feel like an imaginary place. He had, in addition to becoming a highly regarded composer and published writer of poetry, also travelled extensively in Europe, North Africa, Mexico and Central America. And my conclusion - yet more captivating and thought provoking this time round.įirst published in 1949, the author Paul Bowles made his career first as a gifted composer, only returning to his childhood habit of writing fiction in 1945, age thirty-five. So, as much in search of comfort as satisfaction, it appeared logical to revisit a firm favourite.
I returned for a second round recently as I had reached that point on my reading journey where I wasn't sure of the next step. That isn't half bad, considering that all I read, no matter how much I revel in the experience at the time, gets cast to the bookcase and the back of my mind to be slowly forgotten. It moved me I found it wholly engaging, complex, mysterious and somewhat disturbing. Paul BowlesSince my first encounter with The Sheltering Sky some years ago, the novel remained in my mind as one that really meant something.
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