Arabia Through the Looking Glass

Infobox Book
name= Arabia Through the Looking Glass
isbn= ISBN 0-00-654022-8
author= Jonathan Raban
publisher=
release_date= 1979

"Arabia Through the Looking Glass" is Jonathan Raban's first travel book, published in 1979, describing his travels in the Middle East, the Arab countries he visits and the people he meets along the way.__TOC__

Plot summary

Jonathan Raban wrote "Arabia" during the oil boom era when there was a flood of Arabs into Britain after the oil price was raised in 1973. Interested in the Arabs he sees on the Earls Court Road where he has a flat, Raban sets out to visit Arabia in the footsteps of writers like T. E. Lawrence and Wilfred Thesiger. He first attempts to learn Arabic with the beautiful Fatma in London before travelling to Bahrain, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Yemen, Saudi Arabia. His journey comes full circle with his return to London, described by Raban in the book's final chapter as 'The Biggest Souk in the World'.

His prose technique conjures up a myriad of impressions in the reader's mind and one is instantly immersed in the world he lays out on his blank canvas. He takes the reader into bazaars and hotels, glamorous parties and seedy rooms, a sheikh's fortress and the home of a Bedu family. Perhaps one of his greatest attributes is his ability to provide both an intimate and highly appealing portrait of the characters he meets on his solitary travels such as Hamud, his young studious Yemeni taxi traver and Major Barza, the lustful moustachio'd major whom he meets in Abu Dhabi. He also conjures up beautifully-crafted, rather 'hangdog' descriptions of the lands he passes through, using an incredible wealth of detail to elicit the character of the people and the unique atmosphere of the countries he visits.

Source

* "Arabia Through the Looking Glass", Picador (1987) ISBN 0 330 30058 x

External links

* "The Guardian" May 13th, 2004 'Emasculating Arabia' [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1215375,00.html]
* "The Guardian" April 19th, 2003 'The greatest gulf' [http://books.guardian.co.uk/writersoniraq/story/0,12975,939470,00.html]
* www.doublestandards.org 11th December, 2002 'Here we go again' [http://www.doublestandards.org/raban1.html]
* "The Guardian" March 2nd, 2002 'Truly, madly, deeply devout' [http://www.guardian.co.uk/saturday_review/story/0,,660284,00.html]