The Sheltering Sky
First edition cover
Author	Paul Bowles
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]

[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.

[edit] Musical references

• 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 tragic story of the three dancers who wish to have tea in the desert, but end up dead from the heat, with their cups filled only with sand. The story is told to the character Port in Chapter 5.
• 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. Also their album The Eye of Every Storm has a tracks entitled "Shelter" and " A Season in the Sky".
• The God Machine's first album Scenes from the Second Storey opens with a similar sample.
• 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 culture

• In an interview just prior to his death, actor Brandon Lee quoted a passage from The Sheltering Sky, which he had chosen for his wedding invitations; it is now inscribed on his tombstone.

• In the cult TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, Tom Servo says of the slow-paced movie "Werewolf": "'The Sheltering Sky' moved faster than this!"

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Sheltering Sky

• The Authorized Paul Bowles Web Site.