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Title: The Oblivion Seekers by Isabelle Eberhardt ISBN: 0-87286-082-5 Publisher: City Lights Publishers Pub. Date: 01 November, 1975 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Oblivion Seekers one of many stories in a wonderful book
Comment: Isabelle Eberhardt captures the oppressed spirit of the Islamic men within her description of the kif smokers holed up in a ramshackle shelter for the night. In this short story "The Oblivion Seekers" she paints a descriptive picture of the backward desert towns of Morocco and aptly draws a subtle metaphor between a captive falcon and the plight of the Arab men.
On a road to anywhere else is the town of Kenadsa in a desolate town with not even essential human comforts, here of all places, "where there is not even a café", Eberhardt discovers a kif den. The Islamic kif dens of the late 1800's were not unlike the crack houses of today; hidden away in unforgiving places, always in poor sanitary conditions. These places are the sanctuaries for the homeless, the lost, the spiritually bankrupt, the wanderers of our day. This one was similar at least with regards to décor. This particular kif den, despite it derelict location, was of higher quality than most. It was in a "partially ruined house behind the Mellah, a long hall lighted by a single eye in the ceiling of twisted and smoke blackened beams". Eberhardt's passage continues, "The walls are black, ribbed with light colored cracks that look like open wounds". Within this apparent squalor are collected together vagabonds, nomads, persons of dubious intent and questionable appearance for the purpose of smoking kif.
Among them, on a "rude perch of palm branches" is a falcon. The captive falcon is tethered to the makeshift perch by a string around one leg. When unencumbered, falcons spend their time surveying the land from the tall branches of mighty trees or soaring in the clouds, high over the desert cliffs, keeping dominion over their land. Surprisingly, a simple string keeps the falcon terrestrial and prevents him from living out his true destiny.
Just as the owner of the proud raptor goes untold in Eberhardt's story, the oppressor of the Islamic men is neither disclosed; only the oppressed condition in which they all find themselves is described. It could be the politics of the region, the occupation of the land by foreigners, or the poverty inflicted by the desert on all its inhabitants. Reason aside, even the "most highly educated" of Islam can succumb to the oppression of the spirit.
Gathered this evening in the den, among others, is a Moroccan poet, a wanderer in search of native legends; to keep alive he composes and recites verse. There is a Filali musician, rootless without family nor specific trade. There too, a Sudanese doctor who follows the caravans from Senegal to Timbuktu. All, men in search of a medicine to help them forget. To help them forget the futility of their existence - wandering from place to place with no good purpose. These men should be part of a thriving free culture, able to spread their talents to the ends of the Islamic world. The art, music and science are essential pinnings of the Islamic spirit. With a free spirit they wander to the horizons with purpose as surely they, or their predecessors, once did; free to dream and make real those dreams.
Eberhardt writes, "even in the darkest purlieu of Morocco's underworld such men can reach the magic horizon where they are free to build their dream-palaces of delight". The Islamic men are proud men, intelligent men, with dreams and aspirations of freedom and self-determination but their desires, just like the falcon, are restrained. They travel across the desert from country to country undeterred by political boarders. They live off the land - on what meagerness the desert will yield. Yet, a metaphorical string around their ankle binds them tight. The men of Islam can roam freely about the desert but it is their Islamic spirit that is tethered. Consequently, they pursue their dreams in the "clouds of narcotic smoke".
Rating: 3
Summary: Disturbing, Suspiscious Collection
Comment: Isabelle Eberhardt's collection of short stories is intriguing. It is a bit dark yet uses beautiful imagery, esp of the natural surroundings of the Algerian Desert (Sahara). However, be forewarned that most of these stories were put together after her untimely death, and may not all be her own. Only the last 2 can be confirmed as penned by her word for word.
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Title: The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt by Isabelle Eberhardt, Elizabeth Kershaw, Annette Kobak, Nina De Voogd, Liz Kershaw ISBN: 1566565081 Publisher: Interlink Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Wilder Shores of Love: The Exotic True-Life Stories of Isabel Burton, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, Jane Digby, and Isabelle Eberhardt by Lesley Blanch ISBN: 0786710306 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Pub. Date: 10 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Writing 101 : The Quick, Easy Way to Write Clearly and With Confidence (101 Rules Series) by Claudia Sorsby ISBN: 0312959753 Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks Pub. Date: 15 August, 1996 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Motel Chronicles by Sam Shepard ISBN: 0872861430 Publisher: City Lights Publishers Pub. Date: 01 May, 1983 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark (Modern Library (Paperback)) by Jane Fletcher Geniesse ISBN: 0375757465 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 24 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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