Fiction
El Gallardo Español 1615 by Miguel de Cervantes and Albert Camus's 1947 novel The Plague take place in Oran.
Part of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's 2006 Capitán Alatriste adventure novel Corsarios de Levante (Pirates of the Levant) takes place in early 17th-century Oran. The action of the book occurs just a few years after the forced expulsion of last Moriscos (Spanish Muslims) from Valencia. There are vivid descriptions of Oran as a sun-blasted North African military stronghold, largely forgotten by the King of Spain and his advisors, whose attention is focused on the wars in the Low Countries and the treasure fleets from the Americas. Fictional hero Capitán Diego Alatriste and his ward Íñigo Balboa find Oran to be manned by an impoverished garrison of Christian Spaniards, living alongside Muslims (some fiercely loyal to Spain), and Sephardic Jews, themselves refugees from the 1492 expulsions ordered by the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabel).
In the movie Casablanca, the route for refugees fleeing to the Americas was Paris to Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Oran, then by train, auto or foot to Casablanca. If they were lucky enough to get an exit visa, they went on to Lisbon from there.
In the ITV Drama Series Hornblower Lieutenant Hornblower is sent by Captain Pellew to Oran in order to obtain supplies, only to discover that Oran is suffering from Bubonic Plague and have to spend three weeks on board an abandoned supply ship en route to Gibraltar loaded with the supplies obtained from Oran, as a sort of quarantine.
Paul Bowles's 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky mainly takes place in Oran.
The heroine of Geraldine Brooks' novel Year of Wonders ends up in Oran after a year in a village under a self-imposed quarantine fighting the plague in 1666.
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Famous quotes containing the word fiction:
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)
“One can be absolutely truthful and sincere even though admittedly the most outrageous liar. Fiction and invention are of the very fabric of life.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“If one doubts whether Grecian valor and patriotism are not a fiction of the poets, he may go to Athens and see still upon the walls of the temple of Minerva the circular marks made by the shields taken from the enemy in the Persian war, which were suspended there. We have not far to seek for living and unquestionable evidence. The very dust takes shape and confirms some story which we had read.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)