The Sheltering Sky is a 1949 novel of alienation and existential despair by American writer and composer Paul Bowles.

The Sheltering Sky
First edition (later printing)
AuthorPaul Bowles
LanguageEnglish
PublisherJohn Lehmann
Publication date
1949
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages304 pp

Plot

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The story centers on Port Moresby and his wife Kit, 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 fraught by the travelers' ignorance of the dangers that surround them.

Reception

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Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[1] The Modern Library also included it on their 100 best of the century, ranked at number 97.

Dramatic adaptations

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The novel was adapted by Bernardo Bertolucci into a 1990 film with the same title starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich, and with a screenplay by Mark Peploe. The movie was filmed in Morocco, Algeria, and Niger.

Cultural impact

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Music

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Memorial

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In a 1993 interview just prior to his accidental on-set death, actor Brandon Lee paraphrased a passage from The Sheltering Sky.[2] Lee had chosen this quote to be included in his upcoming wedding invitations; it is now inscribed on his tombstone:[3]

Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is 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...

References

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  1. ^ The Sheltering Sky - ALL-TIME 100 Novels - TIME
  2. ^ "Brandon Lee's last interview". EW.com. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  3. ^ Lyke, M.L. (June 4, 1995). "Visitors leave objects of devotion on graves of Bruce Lee and son". The Santa Fe New Mexican.
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