Desert Dreamers by Gerald Hamilton

Washington D.C. : Guild Press, 1966

Desert Dreamers was originally published in London with the imprint of At the Sign of the Tiger Lily in 1914. Appearing at that time as Desert Dreamers: a Novel of Friendship under the pseudonym Patrick Weston, it tells the story of Julian Thelluson who, against his mother's wishes, decides to holiday in Algiers instead of with her in Cannes.

Making the acquaintance of a Frenchman at the hotel in Algiers, he shares with him that he plans to continue on to Biskra. The Frenchman is alarmed and tries to talk him out of it by stating that Biskra isn't the place for an Englishman like himself.

Julian's mind, however, is made up. Upon his arrival in Biskra he runs into a friend of his mother's, a barrister named Joseph Hoxton. When he is introduced to Hoxton's guide, Tayeb ben Mahmud, a young Algerian, he is instantly drawn to him.

Hamilton refers to Julian having read The Garden of Allah as the source of his desire to travel to Biskra. The Garden of Allah is a 1905 novel by Robert Smythe Hichens (author of the 1894 novel about Oscar Wilde, The Green Carnation) about an English woman of 32 years who has yet to find love. Her parents are deceased so she travels to Algeria with her maid and finds love in the desert.

Another reference, and likely the one that the Frenchman in the novel is reacting to, is the connection of Biskra with Oscar Wilde, Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas, and Andre Gide. Gide has written about Wilde and Douglas traveling to Biskra and as part of their vacationing, picking up young local men. When Gide visited them, they introduced him to the lifestyle and the many young men who were available to European tourists.

Desert Dreamers would have been very bold for its time, thus the need for a pseudonym. Prior to each chapter, there is a short poem or poem fragment relating to the action of the text. They are not at all subtle. They include everything from Shakespeare to The Koran. One of my favorites is this one by Lord Alfred Douglas.

Jacinth blue and violet
  Is the radiant light that flashes
Through the tangled silken net
  When he lifts his languid lashes.

It is said that Gerald Hamilton is the source of Isherwood's Mr. Norris. In 1966, Guild Press re-released the complete text of Desert Dreamers under the author's actual name with a forward by Christopher Isherwood where he discusses this.

Bibliographies & Ratings: Young (At the Sign of the Tiger Lily edition, 4070* ; Guild Press edition, 1675*)