The Nomad: Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt

by Isabelle Eberhardt

Overview

Eberhardt's journal chronicles the daring adventures of a late 19th- century European woman who traveled the Sahara desert disguised as an Arab man and adopted Islam. Includes a glossary. Previously published in English by Virago Press in 1987, and as The Passionate Nomad by Virago/Beacon Press in 1988. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623717100
Publisher:	Interlink Publishing Group Inc
Publication date:	04/30/2024
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Isabelle Wilhelmine Marie Eberhardt was a Swiss explorer and author. As a teenager, Eberhardt, educated in Switzerland by her father, published short stories under a male pseudonym.

Editorial Reviews

The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt, edited by Elizabeth Kershaw, is rather different: a rich but fragmented chunk of pure romantic agony. The diaries were found in the aftermath of the flash flood that killed their author, a young Russian woman who became an Islamic mystic, pursuing unofficial love and her own spiritual bent (and hashish and booze) through the sands of the Sahara in the early 1900's. — Michael Pye

The New York Times

"Greatest Travel Books of All Time."

Conde Nast Traveler

"A rich...fragmented chunk of pure romantic agony...Most travel books just arrive. This one has a much more powerful impact because it's about longing-for the Algerian soldier Eberhardt loves, for spiritual revelation, for a simple, wandering life with just a horse and 'a few servants barely more complicated than my mount.'...What's particularly striking is how her impossible passions break against the conventions of her time, conventions of writing as well as living."

"This slimmed-down edition of her diaries makes riveting reading, and throws light on a desert world that remains obscured by bigotry and ignorance."

"Its most interesting passages are the letters she wrote during the trial of a man who had stabbed her, a man she was determined to defend despite his obvious guilt...[Eberhardt] rites articulately about her conversion to Islam, and shows a thoughtful understanding of French-African politics."

From the Publisher

"This slimmed-down edition of her diaries makes riveting reading, and throws light on a desert world that remains obscured by bigotry and ignorance."

The Sunday Times (London)

"Its most interesting passages are the letters she wrote during the trial of a man who had stabbed her, a man she was determined to defend despite his obvious guilt...[Eberhardt] rites articulately about her conversion to Islam, and shows a thoughtful understanding of French-African politics."

The Women's Review of Books

"A rich...fragmented chunk of pure romantic agony...Most travel books just arrive. This one has a much more powerful impact because it's about longing-for the Algerian soldier Eberhardt loves, for spiritual revelation, for a simple, wandering life with just a horse and 'a few servants barely more complicated than my mount.'...What's particularly striking is how her impossible passions break against the conventions of her time, conventions of writing as well as living."

New York Times Book Review