Jalamanta: A Message from the Desert - Hardcover

Anaya, Rudolfo A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446520241 ISBN 13: 9780446520249

Publisher: Mysterious Pr, 1996

Synopsis

Exiled for thirty years in the desert for preaching ideas subversive to the government, Jalamanta returns to his village to share his insights into nature, love, and the fate of humanity, despite the repressive regime that will do anything to stop him. Tour.

About this title

About the Author

Rudolfo Anaya is a professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico.

Reviews

Anaya's preachy New Age parable is a sharp departure from the yeasty realism that won him a large readership for novels like Bless Me, Ultima and Alburquerque. Wise, gray-haired, cotton-robed heretic Jalamanta, returning from 30 years of politically enforced exile in the desert, rejoins his faithful wife, Fatimah, and attracts new followers with his teachings. He urges listeners to pursue the "Path of the Sun"?to meditate, love one another, revere the Earth and find a path of their own choosing. According to Jalamanta, we can fill our souls with the light of the "First Creation" and evolve toward a higher consciousness. Inevitably, he clashes with the "central authorities"?who promote militaristic dogma, established religion and cynical manipulation of the masses?and brings down the wrath of Benago, their chief inquisitor. Jalamanta's pronouncements freely synthesize Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, Native American, gnostic and shamanic traditions to present a universal message of fellowship. Like all lofty sentiments, these become somewhat platitudinous with repetition. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Thirty years ago, Jalamanta and his people were exiled in the desert, banished from the Seventh City for challenging the monolithic dogmas of the Central Authority. Now, Jalamanta returns to his wife, Fatimah, and to his village full of new wisdom about the oneness of humankind and nature and about the nature of love. Jalamanta's teachings about the Path of the Sun challenge the sterile religious institutionalism of the Central Authority and encourage his villagers to seek their own spiritual paths. Anaya (Bless Me, Ultima, Warner, 1994) has fashioned a New Age Joshua in which Jalamanta is a kind of Christic guru preaching an exotic blend of ego psychology, Christian theology, and Hinduism. Recommended for libraries where Anaya's books are in demand.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Jalamanta, exiled in the desert for 30 years for questioning the dogma of the repressive Central Authority, has returned to his village and his beloved wife, Fatimah. In a series of community gatherings, Jalamanta continues to preach his revolutionary philosophy on the spiritual path of enlightenment, drawing ever greater crowds. Ultimately betrayed by a childhood friend, he is once again taken prisoner by the authorities. Anaya's religious fable is more clichethan story as his New Age desert wanderer repeatedly speaks of "stripping away the veils of the soul" and "becoming one with the Universal Light." The novel is at its best when depicting the special relationship shared by Fatimah and Jalamanta, but this story thread doesn't stand much of a chance when it's surrounded by so much artifice. Still, there seems to be a huge demand for material that deals with spirituality, no matter how it's served up, and this title may well appeal to the same vast audience that went for The Celestine Prophecy (1994) and Mutant Message Down Under (1994). Joanne Wilkinson

Edition details

• Publisher: Mysterious Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446520241
• ISBN 13: 9780446520249
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 194