{"id":6337,"date":"2014-07-02T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T18:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/?p=6337"},"modified":"2020-05-07T13:30:33","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T17:30:33","slug":"book-beat-book-club-selection-the-oblivion-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/2014\/07\/02\/book-beat-book-club-selection-the-oblivion-seekers\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Beat reading group selection: &#8220;The Oblivion Seekers&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-6338\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/eberhardt.jpg\" alt=\"eberhardt\" width=\"215\" height=\"166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/eberhardt.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/eberhardt-150x115.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\" \/>This month&#8217;s reading selection will be\u00a0<em>The Oblivion Seekers<\/em> by Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904). The reading group will meet July 30th at 7 PM at the Goldfish Teahouse in Royal Oak. Book selections are discounted 15% at Book Beat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By advancing into unknown territories, I entered into my life.&#8221; &#8211;Isabelle Eberhardt<\/p>\n<p>Eberhardt&#8217;s collection of short stories were written as she explored the deserts of North Africa disguised as a man in order to gain the confidence of members of Arab society. With the freedom of her male identity she was able to gain access to a secret Sufi brotherhood. Prior to her death in a desert flash flood she converted to the Muslim faith. The original manuscript to <em>The Oblivion Seekers <\/em>was lost in the same flood, but a copy remained and was translated for the edition we are using by author Paul Bowles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Eberhardt&#8217;s extrodinary life detailed in the introduction by Paul Bowles is as interesting as her stories &#8211; especially as a female negotiating the Arabian world of the mystics. Her short pieces are sometimes eloquent petitions for the rights (and the joy and the rewards) of the penniless wanderer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This volume contains 11 short stories, a diary excerpt and a letter to the editor defending her integrity. Paul Bowles has provided in the preface a reasonably detailed account of her life. The book would be valuable solely as a historical piece &#8211; a sympathetic view of the natives who are in the process of being subjugated by France.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Below is an excerpt from an opera based on her life by Missy Mazzoli:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Song From The Uproar - The Lifes And Deaths Of Isabelle Eberhardt\" width=\"635\" height=\"357\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/inH3akkasUY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This month&rsquo;s reading selection will be&nbsp;The Oblivion Seekers by Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904). The reading group will meet July 30th at 7 PM at the Goldfish Teahouse in Royal Oak. Book selections are discounted 15% at Book Beat. &ldquo;By advancing into unknown territories, I entered into my life.&rdquo; &ndash;Isabelle Eberhardt Eberhardt&rsquo;s collection of short stories were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,25,65],"tags":[307,308],"class_list":["post-6337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","category-reading-group","category-world-lit","tag-isabelle-eberhardt","tag-oblivion-seekers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}