Zusatztext A thoughtful! fearlessly low-key novel about the role of our species on the planet . . . laid out for us with an originality and a clarity that few would deny. The New York Times Book Review [Quinn entraps] us in the dialogue itself! in the sweet and terrible lucidity of Ishmael's analysis of the human condition. . . . It was surely for this deep! clear persuasiveness of argument that Ishmael was given its huge prize. The Washington Post It is as suspenseful! inventive! and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction book you are likely to read this or any other year. The Austin Chronicle Deserves high marks as a seriousand all too rareeffort that is unflinchingly engaged with fundamental life-and-death concerns. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Informationen zum Autor Daniel Quinn Klappentext One of the most beloved and bestselling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following among readers and critics alike. This special twenty-fifth anniversary edition features a new foreword and afterword by the author, as well as an excerpt from My Ishmael. TEACHER SEEKS PUPIL. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person. It was just a three-line ad in the personals section, but it launched the adventure of a lifetime. So begins an utterly unique and captivating novel. In Ishmael, which received the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship for the best work of fiction offering positive solutions to global problems, Daniel Quinn parses humanity's origins and its relationship with nature, in search of an answer to this challenging question: How can we save the world from ourselves? Praise for Ishmael "As suspenseful, inventive, and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction you are likely to read this or any other year."-The Austin Chronicle "Before we're halfway through this slim book . . . we're in [Daniel Quinn's] grip, we want Ishmael to teach us how to save the planet from ourselves. We want to change our lives."-The Washington Post "Arthur Koestler, in an essay in which he wondered whether mankind would go the way of the dinosaur, formulated what he called the Dinosaur's Prayer: 'Lord, a little more time!' Ishmael does its bit to answer that prayer and may just possibly have bought us all a little more time."-Los Angeles Times 1 The first time I read the ad, I choked and cursed and spat and threw the paper to the floor. Since even this didn't seem to be quite enough, I snatched it up, marched into the kitchen, and shoved it into the trash. While I was there, I made myself a little breakfast and gave myself some time to cool down. I ate and thought about something else entirely. That's right. Then I dug the paper out of the trash and turned back to the Personals section, just to see if the damn thing was still there and just the way I remembered it. It was. TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person. An earnest desire to save the world! Oh, I liked that. That was rich indeed. An earnest desire to save the worldyes, that was splendid. By noon, two hundred mooncalfs, softheads, boobies, ninnyhammers, noodleheads, gawkies, and assorted oafs and thickwits would doubtless be lined up at the address given, ready to turn over all their worldlies for the rare privilege of sitting at the feet of some guru pregnant with the news that all will be well if everyone will just turn around and give his neighbor a big hug. You will wonder: Why is this man so indignant? So bitter? It's a fair question. In fact, it's a question I was asking myself. The answer goes back to a time, a couple decades ago, when I'd had the silly notion that the thing I most wanted to do in the world was . . . to find a teacher. ...

Autorentext

Daniel Quinn

Klappentext

One of the most beloved and bestselling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following among readers and critics alike. This special twenty-fifth anniversary edition features a new foreword and afterword by the author, as well as an excerpt from My Ishmael.

TEACHER SEEKS PUPIL.
Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.

It was just a three-line ad in the personals section, but it launched the adventure of a lifetime.

So begins an utterly unique and captivating novel. In Ishmael, which received the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship for the best work of fiction offering positive solutions to global problems, Daniel Quinn parses humanity's origins and its relationship with nature, in search of an answer to this challenging question: How can we save the world from ourselves?

Praise for Ishmael

"As suspenseful, inventive, and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction you are likely to read this or any other year."-The Austin Chronicle

"Before we're halfway through this slim book . . . we're in [Daniel Quinn's] grip, we want Ishmael to teach us how to save the planet from ourselves. We want to change our lives."-The Washington Post

"Arthur Koestler, in an essay in which he wondered whether mankind would go the way of the dinosaur, formulated what he called the Dinosaur's Prayer: 'Lord, a little more time!' Ishmael does its bit to answer that prayer and may just possibly have bought us all a little more time."-Los Angeles Times

Leseprobe
1

The first time I read the ad, I choked and cursed and spat and threw the paper to the floor. Since even this didn’t seem to be quite enough, I snatched it up, marched into the kitchen, and shoved it into the trash. While I was there, I made myself a little breakfast and gave myself some time to cool down. I ate and thought about something else entirely. That’s right. Then I dug the paper out of the trash and turned back to the Personals section, just to see if the damn thing was still there and just the way I remembered it. It was.

TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.

An earnest desire to save the world! Oh, I liked that. That was rich indeed. An earnest desire to save the world–yes, that was splendid. By noon, two hundred mooncalfs, softheads, boobies, ninnyhammers, noodleheads, gawkies, and assorted oafs and thickwits would doubtless be lined up at the address given, ready to turn over all their worldlies for the rare privilege of sitting at the feet of some guru pregnant with the news that all will be well if everyone will just turn around and give his neighbor a big hug.

You will wonder: Why is this man so indignant? So bitter? It’s a fair question. In fact, it’s a question I was asking myself.

The answer goes back to a time, a couple decades ago, when I’d had the silly notion that the thing I most wanted to do in the world was . . . to find a teacher. That’s right. I imagined I wanted a teacher–needed a teacher. To show me how one goes about doing something that might be called . . . saving the world.

Stupid, no? Childish. Naïve. Simple. Callow. Or just fundamentally dumb. In one so manifestly normal in other respects, it needs explaining.

It came about in this way.

During the children’s revolt of the sixties and seventies, I was just old enough to understand what these kids had in mind–they meant to turn the world upside down–and just young enough to believe they might actually succeed. It’s true. Every morning when I opened my eyes, I expected to see that the new era had begun, that the sky was a brighter blue and the grass a brighter green. I expected to hear laughter in the air and to see people dancing in the streets, and not just kids–everyone! I won’t apologize for my naïveté; you only have to listen to the songs to know that I wasn’t alone.

Then one day when I was in my mid-teens, I woke up and realized that the new era was never going to begin.…