Santal

by Ronald Firbank

Firbank's fantasy vision of Islamic spirituality.

40 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

British novelist Ronald Firbank was born in London, the son of society lady Harriet Jane Garrett and MP Sir Thomas Firbank. He went to Uppingham School, and then on to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He converted to Catholicism in 1907. In 1909 he left Cambridge, without completing a degree.
Living off his inheritance he travelled around Spain, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa. Ronald Firbank died of lung disease while in Rome.

Reviews

[sch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story, not a novel, though it was originally published on its own. Not Firbank's customary world, but recognizably his. The mystic element is welcome, though it isn't fully integrated.

[Read in THE COMPLETE RONALD FIRBANK, Duckworth 1961]

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd, evocative, quiet, and somewhat confounding book. A short story, really, that rambles along a dreamlike path to...where? Can't say it wowed me, and yet the descriptions, the foreign yet familiar overheard conversation, the journey, all just might stay with me.

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

"By the hand of fatma, Do you like local flavor??" young camel girl chirrupped behind pile of mango "Herein a story of young Cherif outside Oasis of El Oued, wherein would often walk a mile to watch two amorous camels!" rip through thsi sucker in a night and forget it. ending kinda brutal tho