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Translated from the French and with a preface by Sharon
Bangert
In the Shadow of Islam is an extraordinary evocation
of the desert and its people by a woman who dressed as a man
in order to travel alone and unimpeded throughout North Africa.
In 1897 Isabelle Eberhardt, aged 20, left an already unconventional
life in Geneva for the Morroccan frontier. Gripped by spiritual
restlessness and the desire to break free from the confinements
of her society she travelled into the desert, and into the
heart of Islam.
Her experiences inspired a profound self-examination, and
In the Shadow of Islam is today regarded as one of
the true classics of travel writing.
In the current political climate, it is also a book uncannily
current in its treatment of the culture of Islam in north
Africa.
‘A compelling narrative and an ideal starting point
from which to discover more about Isabelle Eberhardt’s
picaresque life.’ – Nicola Walker, Times Literary
Supplement
‘She [Eberhardt] was the first hippie. She travelled
with no money living from day to day; she had no concept
that chastity was of any value and was sexually voracious; she
was into kif-smoking; and she lived in Morocco dressed
as a man.’ – Juliet Stevenson
‘Cultdom can imply a a blind suspension of critical
faculties, and Isabelle has suffered from that. A hazy image
of her as a soul-sick Amazon-of-the-desert has been recycled
as each new generation discovers radical desert chic. Yet
her writings, and her sheer modernity, stand up to modern
scrutiny . . . Not only only have the stories she collected
become invaluable oral history for the North Africans, but
her perception of Islam as a future, and not a spent, force
on the world stage has proved prophetic. In that, as in
the rebel-without-a-cause about her, she has proved ahead
of her time.’ – Daily Telegraph
ISABELLE EBERHARDT was born in Geneva in 1877, the illegitimate
daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest and a part-Russian,
part-German aristocrat. She spent much of her short adult
life in north Africa where she converted to Islam. She was
killed in a flash flood at the age of 27. |
