Paul Bowles (1) (1910–1999)

When books come recommended to us by people whose taste we highly respect, even before we read the very first word, they already take a life of their own molded by our expectations. At times, we're lucky and the book does meet and even surpasses what we expected from it, and at times such as now, it is a disappointment.

This story follows three American travellers trotting around North Africa at a period after the Second World War. This book was written (and is also set) before decolonization began and before the Civil Rights Movement in the United States began getting attention, so perhaps it comes as no surprise that some of the characters are deeply anti-semitic and racist, especially the character Mrs. Lyle. Arabs are treated with suspicion and condescending, Jews with contempt and Negroes with slur words. Interesting also is what Africa seems to represent in the story:

"Outside in the dust was the disorder of Africa, but for the first time without any visible sign of European influence, so that the scene had a purity which had been lacking in the other towns, an unexpected quality of being complete which dissipated the feeling of chaos."

Of course a trope of the colonial period and the literature written by Western writers at the time (and in some incidents even to this date), is African disorder, a thing inexpressible, dangerous but alluring, which in this case is required to rid the protagonists of the moral crises they are facing and which in turn leads to destruction.

That aside, I think this book failed in its attempt at analysis into human nature and moral stagnation of post Second World War American expatriates; Maugham's The Razor's Edge and Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, I believe expressed this better. What I think was aimed to be philosophical sounded trite and unconvincing. Bowles however, writes of North African terrain and skies with incredible colourful description, and that I felt, was among the few good things about the book.

I expected something illuminatory given the praise I had heard for the book but was left feeling as though I had missed something, and perhaps I have, although I do not think so.… (more)

El cielo protector
Paul Bowles
Publicado: 1949 | 214 páginas
Novela Drama

Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, un joven y refinado matrimonio de Nueva York, Port y Kit Moresby, viaja al desierto norteafricano acompañado de su amigo Tunner. Bajo el impresionante paisaje que les rodea se esconden los peligros de una cultura que les es ajena y un entorno natural hostil. Poco a poco, el vacío y la crueldad del lugar los conducen hasta los límites de la razón.

El cielo protector es la obra más aclamada de Paul Bowles y una de las cumbres de la literatura americana del siglo XX. Fue adaptada a la gran pantalla en 1989 por Bernardo Bertolucci.… (more)