Paul Bowles - A Life

Paul Bowles - A Life By Virginia Spencer Carr £18.95 Peter Owen ISBN 0-7206-1254-3

Paul Bowles - novelist, composer, celebrated expatriate, countercultural and gay icon - is one of the most mythologised figures of 20th century US culture.

Virginia Spencer Carr travelled to Morocco in 1989 to interview the writer for a biography of the playwright Tennessee Williams. When she asked Bowles, one of the most private of artists, to sign a copy of a recently published biography of him (Invisible Spectator), the author exclaimed: "Does this book have anything to do with me?" Later, Gore Vidai suggested that Spencer Carr postpone her work in order to write a life of Bowles instead.

Following an offer of no strings attached' co-operation from Bowles and a new two-book contract from her US publisher, she began to write.

Twelve years and 13 trips to Morocco later, Carr has delivered a biography that she was able to read aloud to Bowles shortly before his death. Gathering a wealth of information about Bowles's youth, his writing, his music, his marriage with Jane Bowles and his sexual relationships, this compelling and erudite biography is the definitive account of an extraordinary life.

Bowles was born in 1910. He grew up in New York and at a young age embarked upon an artistic journey all over the world. He studied music with composer Aaron Copland, befriended a generation of artists including Gertrude Stein, Alien Ginsberg and W.H. Auden, and married the writer Jane Auer (later known as Jane Bowles).

He composed music for plays and films, wrote poetry, short stories and novels including The Sheltering Sky. He captured the imaginations of American counter-culturalists when he took up residence in Morocco where he remained until his death in 1999. His writings are today recognised as some of the most original and powerful of the twentieth century.

Copyright International Communications Jan 2006
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