In Libreria
Sinossi
Rub el-Khali, l'Empty Quarter in inglese, il Quarto Vuoto, è il deserto più grande del mondo, il solo luogo in cui, secondo Thesiger, "si può trovare la pace della vera solitudine". Il primo europeo ad attraversare l'Empty Quarter fu Bertram Thomas, un funzionario dell'lndian Civil Service trasformatosi in esploratore nell'inverno del 1931. Il secondo fu St John Philby, il padre di Kim, la spia. Wilfred Thesiger è stato solo il terzo. La sua impresa, però, cominciata nel novembre del 1945, è stata davvero memorabile: una traversata proibita dal Dhaufar fino all'Oman, nel Golfo Persico, passando per le dune ritenute invalicabili dell'Uruq el-Shaiba e costeggiando sabbie mobili assai temibili. Scritto dieci anni dopo l'avventura dell'Empty Quarter in una stanzetta del Park Hotel di Copenhagen, "Sabbie arabe" è innanzi tutto un'appassionata celebrazione, composta con immediatezza ed eleganza, dei beduini e della loro esistenza. In un tempo fuori dal tempo, tra carovane e soste, silenzi e animate conversazioni, riviviamo nelle sue pagine la vita di un popolo fiero e generoso, religioso e violento, fatalista e solidale: una vita aspra e affascinante che, una volta conosciuta, non concede a "nessun uomo di restare lo stesso".
- ISBN:
- Casa Editrice:
- Pagine: 411
- Data di uscita: 27-10-2016
Recensioni
There is no doubt in my mind that this is top of the shelf travel/adventure narrative. Thesiger could arguably be one of the last great explorers that this ever smaller world has seen. His journeys into the unmapped areas of the Empty Quarters of the Arabian peninsula are told in this well written b Leggi tutto
“…There was a very lovely girl working with the others on the well. Her hair was braided, except where it was cut in a fringe across her forehead, and fell in a curtain of small plaits round her neck. She wore various silver ornaments and several necklaces, some of large cornelians, others of sma Leggi tutto
I like to browse through my books on a Sunday morning for some strange reason and came across this book that I read when I was working in Saudi Arabia and, as I had also met the bedouin and taken tea with them, I was interested to hear about Thesiger's travels in that country. It's such an interesti Leggi tutto
The Last of the Barefoot Explorers When I was a kid I dreamt of being an explorer. Never mind that I had never been out of New England and had no possibility of doing so. Discovering new lands and peoples seemed such a great job. What I couldn't figure out was how you got BE an explorer ? What, did y Leggi tutto
Thesiger’s book is about a time, right after many people thought most of the great adventures had already been had and right before the frontiers of the desert sands were truly closed off. The book was one man’s love affair with the hardship of desert sand and the people who had called it their home Leggi tutto
The Arabist Tradition of Wildred Thesiger “In the desert I had found a freedom unattainable in civilization; a life unhampered by possessions, since everything that was not a necessity was an encumbrance.” "The tragedy was the choice would not be theirs. Economic forces beyond their control would eve Leggi tutto
Ever since I saw the exhibition of photographs by Thesiger at Al Jahili Fort, Al-ain, Abu Dhabi I had wanted to read his epic work-Arabian Sands. The book is an outcome of his five years of travel in the vast waterless desert, the empty quarter of Arabia. He travelled at the time when the first atte Leggi tutto
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