Four Days from Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Literature · Subcategory: Literary fragments · Year: 1949 · Authors: Paul Bowles

The writer Paul Bowles (New York, 30 December 1910 - Tangier, Morocco, 18 November 1999) hesitated, at the start of his career, whether to dedicate himself to music or literature. From 1941 he focused on the latter, giving rise to a true chain of masterful works. In 1947 he settled in Tangier, where he spent most of his life. Two years later, in 1949, the year of the publication of his most famous novel, The Sheltering Sky , Bowles wrote a short story entitled "Four Days from Santa Cruz." In it he narrated the adventures of a sailor named Ramón, embarked on a ship that called at the capital of Tenerife. This story, included in a collection titled Selected Stories published by Alfaguara in 1995, presents Santa Cruz in that peculiar and characteristic way of Bowles:

«Ramón enlisted in Cádiz. The ship's first stop was in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a day and a half after departure. They entered at night, shortly after dark. The spotlights surrounding the bay illuminated the steep bare mountains, turning them green like grass against the black sky. Ramón remained by the railing, watching [...]

[...] As soon as the ship anchored, a crowd of Hindu hawkers boarded with lace and embroidered goods for passengers who might not disembark [...]

[...] He began to walk quickly through the city, paying no attention to where he was going. With his eyes fixed on the imaginary horizon, he crossed the square, walked along the wide Paseo de Ronda and ventured into the narrow streets [...] The number of people on the street increased as he left the city centre, until upon reaching what seemed a remote neighbourhood, where the shops were mere market stalls, he was forced to follow slowly at the pace of the crowd [...] Outside some booths there were wires stretched; from these, many of those squares of fabric hung, held by the corners, showing their bright colours in the glow of the carbide lamps [...]»

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