The Sheltering Sky
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| The Sheltering Sky | |
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| Author | Paul Bowles |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | John Lehmann |
| Publication date | 1949 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
The Sheltering Sky is a 1949 novel by Paul Bowles. The story centers on Port and Kit Moresby, a married couple originally from New York who travel to the North African desert accompanied by their friend Tunner. The journey, initially an attempt by Port and Kit to resolve their marital difficulties, is quickly made fraught by the travelers' ignorance of the dangers that surround them.
Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[1]
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[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The Sheltering Sky was adapted by Bernardo Bertolucci into a 1990 film by the same name starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich, with screenplay by Mark Peploe. In Bertolucci's interpretation, the bleak, sinister tone of the latter part of the book becomes a desert love story. The movie is filmed in Morocco, Algeria, and Niger and features powerful visual scenery.
- For the soundtrack of the film, see The Sheltering Sky (soundtrack).
[edit] Musical references
- Composer Richard Horowitz received a Golden Globe award (Best Original Score - Motion Picture) and Los Angeles Film Critics Association award (Best Music) for his soundtrack work on The Sheltering Sky
- The 1981 album Discipline by King Crimson includes an eight-minute instrumental composition titled "The Sheltering Sky."
- The 1983 album Synchronicity by the Police includes a song called "Tea in the Sahara", the lyrics of which contain the phrase "beneath the sheltering sky" and are based on the story of the three sisters and the prince as described in the first chapter of the book.
- The 1992 album Beyond the Sky by Omar Faruk Tekbilek was inspired by the film version of The Sheltering Sky.
- The first song on Neurosis's album Enemy of the Sun opens with a sample from the film.
- The 1995 album Thrak by King Crimson includes the song "Walking on Air" which features these lyrics: "I'll be standing by your side in between the deep blue sea and the sheltering sky."
[edit] Popular Quote
"Death is always on the way, but the fact that you don't know when it will arrive seems to take away from the finiteness of life. It's that terrible precision that we hate so much. But because we don't know, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."
[edit] Trivia
- In an interview just prior to his death, actor Brandon Lee, best known for his portrayal of Eric Draven in the 1994 film The Crow, quoted the above passage from The Sheltering Sky, which he had chosen for his wedding invitations; it is now inscribed on his tombstone.
- In the movie, Paul Bowles makes a cameo appearance as narrator, and quotes the above passage.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- the official Paul Bowles site, The Authorized Paul Bowles Web Site.
