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The Arab
Set in the years of the discovery of oil in Arabia, The Arab is a spectacular epic novel, a long-term adventure.
The fragile peace that sustains two kingdoms is broken when oil wells are found in a border area and foreign powers want to intervene in the exploitation. Tradition and progress, culture and money, construction and destruction are going to confront each other.
The young prince Auda could resolve the conflict and seal peace by accepting the hand of the beautiful Lahlah, daughter of an ancient enemy. This is what her head demands, this is what her heart desires. However, his loyalty to his people, which is born from his core, pushes him to take part in a war commanding an army of outcasts. The fight will be wild and perhaps you will emerge from it totally transformed.
«With prose as refined as it is salacious, which evokes the cadence of Arabic, Hans Ruesch exhibits mastery in the least common of knowing how to tell good stories. »
The New York Times
The fragile peace that sustains two kingdoms is broken when oil wells are found in a border area and foreign powers want to intervene in the exploitation. Tradition and progress, culture and money, construction and destruction are going to confront each other.
The young prince Auda could resolve the conflict and seal peace by accepting the hand of the beautiful Lahlah, daughter of an ancient enemy. This is what her head demands, this is what her heart desires. However, his loyalty to his people, which is born from his core, pushes him to take part in a war commanding an army of outcasts. The fight will be wild and perhaps you will emerge from it totally transformed.
«With prose as refined as it is salacious, which evokes the cadence of Arabic, Hans Ruesch exhibits mastery in the least common of knowing how to tell good stories. »
The New York Times
314 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
About the author
Hans Ruesch
30 books25 followersHans Ruesch was a Italo-swiss racing driver, a novelist, and an internationally prominent activist against animal experiments and vivisection.
Ruesch was born in Naples on 17 May 1913 to an Italian-speaking Swiss mother and a German-speaking Swiss father. He lived the first 14 years of his life in Naples, where his father was a textile industrialist and a specialist in Pompeian Art. Ruesch attended boarding school in Switzerland. He then studied Law at the University of Zurich but dropped out in 1932 to join the racing circuit.
After World War II, in 1946, Ruesch left the United States and returned to Naples. He married Maria Luisa de la Feld in 1949. They separated in the early 1970s and Maria Luisa died in 2006. Hans Ruesch died of cancer at his home in Lugano, Switzerland, on 27 August 2007. He was 94. He is survived by his daughter, Vivian Ruesch Mellon of Manhattan, his sons, Hans Jr. Ruesch and Peter Ruesch, of Switzerland, and five grandchildren, Diana Mellon, Angela Mellon, Sarah Mellon, Jessica Ruesch and Gina Ruesch.
Ruesch was born in Naples on 17 May 1913 to an Italian-speaking Swiss mother and a German-speaking Swiss father. He lived the first 14 years of his life in Naples, where his father was a textile industrialist and a specialist in Pompeian Art. Ruesch attended boarding school in Switzerland. He then studied Law at the University of Zurich but dropped out in 1932 to join the racing circuit.
After World War II, in 1946, Ruesch left the United States and returned to Naples. He married Maria Luisa de la Feld in 1949. They separated in the early 1970s and Maria Luisa died in 2006. Hans Ruesch died of cancer at his home in Lugano, Switzerland, on 27 August 2007. He was 94. He is survived by his daughter, Vivian Ruesch Mellon of Manhattan, his sons, Hans Jr. Ruesch and Peter Ruesch, of Switzerland, and five grandchildren, Diana Mellon, Angela Mellon, Sarah Mellon, Jessica Ruesch and Gina Ruesch.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 16, 2022
Ruesch meritava di essere lasciato a congelare sulla banchisa per la vomitevole azione di appropriazione culturale che ha fatto con questo libro, peggiorata dal fatto che non pretende di essere un romanzo di fantasia ma viene infiocchettato di tanti dettagli naturalistici. E il mio disgusto non è dettato dai tempi odierni, e non è accettazione delle bestialità per cui si mette all’indice Tom Sawyer perché chiama gli afro-americani nigger, ma una repulsione innata nei confronti degli autori “giudicanti dall’esterno” (Jack London è un “giudicante dall’interno” ovvero colloca il suo pensiero suprematista bianco, anzi sassone, nella testa dei suoi protagonisti).
Gli Inuit vengono descritti come degli umanoidi buoni ma fessi (Ermenenek un buzzicone dedito solo a rimpinzarsi di cibo, Asiak una boccalona che non ha mai visto un neonato e quindi vuole fare secco il bambino appena nato perché senza denti e quindi incapace di provvedere a sé da adulto). Solo nella seconda parte recupera un po’: no, non nella descrizione dei rapporti umani, ma nella descrizione di come si costruisce una canoa di pelli di foca.
Terribile.
Gli Inuit vengono descritti come degli umanoidi buoni ma fessi (Ermenenek un buzzicone dedito solo a rimpinzarsi di cibo, Asiak una boccalona che non ha mai visto un neonato e quindi vuole fare secco il bambino appena nato perché senza denti e quindi incapace di provvedere a sé da adulto). Solo nella seconda parte recupera un po’: no, non nella descrizione dei rapporti umani, ma nella descrizione di come si costruisce una canoa di pelli di foca.
Terribile.
May 3, 2017
Que sufrimiento este libro. La narrativa es complicada y demasiado pretenciosa, la historia esta llena de derramamiento de sangre sin sentido, obediencia y devocion rayando en la locura, por no decir que mencionan a Ala minimo 3 veces por pagina hasta que se vuelve fastidioso. Este libro me costo muchisimo terminarlo, y el final me parecio frustrante y desesperante. En serio que me disgusto este libro.
April 27, 2013
Muy interesante y entretenido. En español es conocida originalmente como 'Al Sur del Corazón' o, últimamente y gracias a la película de Jean Jacques Annaud, 'Oro Negro'(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1701210/).
Obviamente el primero (de 1957) es un título más bonito y elaborado que el que se le ha dado a su versión para el cine...
Las claves de la novela son varias:
- La situación y ambiente de la Península Arábiga durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Tan aislados del mundo occidental y a la vez tan parecidos, recreando a escala y con sus medios lo que ocurría en el resto del mundo.
- La rigurosa fe del Islam de los personajes, principio y fin de cada una de las acciones de los personajes. El fanatismo te parece bastante razonable en algunos momentos de la historia (no, no me voy a convertir, tranquilos).
- La introducción de una nueva variable en las guerras entre beduinos del desierto: el petróleo.
- El realismo. Es un best-seller de 1957 y se nota.
- La vida en el desierto: las costumbres , las formas de supervivencia, las penurias, la sed...
Porque esta novela es la que más sed me ha causado.
Obviamente el primero (de 1957) es un título más bonito y elaborado que el que se le ha dado a su versión para el cine...
Las claves de la novela son varias:
- La situación y ambiente de la Península Arábiga durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Tan aislados del mundo occidental y a la vez tan parecidos, recreando a escala y con sus medios lo que ocurría en el resto del mundo.
- La rigurosa fe del Islam de los personajes, principio y fin de cada una de las acciones de los personajes. El fanatismo te parece bastante razonable en algunos momentos de la historia (no, no me voy a convertir, tranquilos).
- La introducción de una nueva variable en las guerras entre beduinos del desierto: el petróleo.
- El realismo. Es un best-seller de 1957 y se nota.
- La vida en el desierto: las costumbres , las formas de supervivencia, las penurias, la sed...
Porque esta novela es la que más sed me ha causado.
August 18, 2011
Sin dar tregua al lector, sus mejores cuotas están en no conformarse con la aventura incansable e ir más allá, regalando una pintura agridulce de una cultura tan prejuiciada como desconocida.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews