The Sheltering Sky

The Sheltering Sky, first novel by Paul Bowles, published in 1948. Considered a model of existential fiction, it sold well and was a critical success. The novel was described by the author as “an adventure story in which the adventures take place on two planes simultaneously: in the actual desert, and in the inner desert of the spirit.”

Bowles’s cool, detached prose contrasts with the increasingly violent and irrational events of the novel. Port and Kit Moresby, an American couple of independent means, have been traveling aimlessly for 12 years. By the time they reach Morocco, they have become disaffected and alienated. They take up with a series of unreliable rootless wanderers. On a trip to the interior, Port contracts typhoid fever—out of apathy he has neglected to be vaccinated—and dies. Kit has an affair with an Arab and joins his household, but their relationship soon falls apart. Kit is found and returned to Oran. She is teetering on the brink of insanity and finds an opportunity to disappear into the crowded bazaar.