 First edition (later printing) | |
| Author | Paul Bowles |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | John Lehmann |
Publication date | 1949 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pp |
The Sheltering Sky is a 1949 novel of alienation and existential despair by American writer and composer Paul Bowles.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Japanese composer, pianist, record producer, and actor who pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres.
Brandon Bruce Lee was an American actor. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed what was to be his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the supernatural superhero film The Crow (1994). However, Lee's career and life were cut short by his accidental death during the film's production.
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his life.
Albert Allick Bowlly was a South African-British vocalist and dance band guitarist who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded upwards of 1,000 songs that were listened to by millions.
async is the nineteenth solo studio album of Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and his first one in eight years since Out of Noise (2009). It is also his first full-length solo record since recovering from throat cancer in 2015. Consisting of a combination of bizarre interpretations of familiar musical instruments, unusual textures both acoustic and electronically-made, samples of recordings of people such as David Sylvian and Paul Bowles doing readings, and everyday sounds borrowed from field recordings of city streets, async has underlying themes of the worries of the end of life and the interaction of differing viewpoints in humanity.
Jane Bowles was an American writer and playwright.
Cabaret is an American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff. It is based on the 1951 play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, which in turn was based on the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.
Green Grow the Rushes, O, is an English folk song. It is sometimes sung as a Christmas carol. It often takes the form of antiphon, where one voice calls and is answered by a chorus.
"Little Fluffy Clouds" is a single released by the British ambient house group the Orb. It was originally released in November 1990 on the record label Big Life and peaked at number 87 on the UK Singles Chart. The Orb also included it on their 1991 double album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. "Little Fluffy Clouds" was re-released several times with different B-sides, with its 1993 re-release reaching number 10 in the UK.
"La Di Da Di" is a song performed by Doug E. Fresh, who provides the beatboxed instrumental, and MC Ricky D, who performs the vocals. It was originally released in 1985 as the B-side to "The Show". The song has since gained a reputation as an early hip hop classic, and it is one of the most sampled songs in history. It was inducted to National Recording Registry by Library of Congress in April 2024.
"Weapon of Choice" is a song by English big beat musician Fatboy Slim from his third studio album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. It features vocals by American funk musician Bootsy Collins. It was released as a double A-side single with "Star 69" on 23 April 2001, as well as a standalone single release, and a 2010 re-release with remixes. The single peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart.
Brandon Heath is an American contemporary Christian musician. He has released six studio albums: Don't Get Comfortable (2006), What If We (2008), Leaving Eden (2011), Blue Mountain (2012), No Turning Back (2015), and Faith Hope Love Repeat (2017). He is best known for the No. 1 singles: "I'm Not Who I Was" and "Give Me Your Eyes". He was nominated four times at the Dove Awards of 2008 and won in the "New Artist of the Year" category. His second album was nominated for "Gospel Album of the Year" at the 51st Grammy Awards of 2009.
The Sheltering Sky is the original soundtrack to the 1990 film The Sheltering Sky starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich. The original score was composed primarily by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
This article lists examples of the ongoing influence on popular culture of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
"Bring Me Sunshine" is a song written in 1966 by the composer Arthur Kent, with lyrics by Sylvia Dee. It was first recorded by The Mills Brothers in 1968, on their album My Shy Violet. In the UK, the song is associated with the popular comedy duo Morecambe & Wise, after it was adopted as their signature tune in their second series for the BBC in 1969.
"Forbidden Colours" is a 1983 song by David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. It appears on the film's soundtrack album and was released as a single on Virgin Records in 1983.
The Sheltering Sky is a 1990 drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich. The film is based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Paul Bowles about a couple who journey to North Africa in the hopes of rekindling their marriage but soon fall prey to the dangers that surround them. The story culminates with the man falling severely ill in a very remote area of the Sahara desert, from where the events turn catastrophic.
East Side, West Side is a 1949 American melodrama crime film, starring Barbara Stanwyck, James Mason, Van Heflin, and Ava Gardner. Based on the 1947 novel of the same title, written by Marcia Davenport, screenplay by Isobel Lennart, produced by Voldemar Vetluguin, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
"Tea in the Sahara" is a song by the British new wave band the Police. Written by Sting, the song appeared on the band's final album, Synchronicity. It was written about the Paul Bowles novel The Sheltering Sky.
T. S. Eliot's 1915 poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is often referenced in popular culture.
