Paul Bowles
Paul Frederic Bowles (December 30, 1910 – November 18, 1999) was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his life.
Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making several trips to Paris in the 1930s. He studied music with Aaron Copland, and in New York wrote music for theatrical productions, as well as other compositions. He achieved critical and popular success with his first novel The Sheltering Sky (1949), set in French North Africa, which he had visited in 1931.
In 1947, Bowles settled in Tangier, at that time in the Tangier International Zone, and his wife Jane Bowles followed in 1948. Except for winters spent in Ceylon during the early 1950s, Tangier was Bowles's home for the remainder of his life. He came to symbolize American immigrants in the city.
Bowles died in 1999 at the age of 88. His ashes are buried near family graves in Lakemont Cemetery, in upstate New York.
Paul Bowles was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, as the only child of Rena (née Winnewisser) and Claude Dietz Bowles, a dentist. His childhood was materially comfortable, but his father was a cold and domineering parent, opposed to any form of play or entertainment, and feared by both his son and wife. According to family legend, Claude had tried to kill his newborn son by leaving him exposed on a window-ledge during a snowstorm. The story may not be true, but Bowles believed it was and that it encapsulated his relationship with his father. Warmth in his childhood was provided by his mother, who read Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe to him – it was to the latter that he later attributed his own desire to write stories, such as "The Delicate Prey", "A Distant Episode", and "Pages from Cold Point".
Bowles could read at age 3 and was writing stories by age 4. Soon, he wrote surrealistic poetry and music. In 1922, at age 11, he bought his first book of poetry, Arthur Waley's A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems. At age 17, he had a poem, "Spire Song", accepted for publication in the literary journal transition. This Paris-based publication served as a forum for leading proponents of modernism – Djuna Barnes, James Joyce, Paul Éluard, Gertrude Stein and others. Bowles's interest in music also dated from his childhood, when his father bought a phonograph and classical records. (Bowles was interested in jazz, but such records were forbidden by his father.) His family bought a piano, and the young Bowles studied musical theory, singing, and piano. When he was 15, he attended a performance of Stravinsky's The Firebird at Carnegie Hall, which made a profound impression: "Hearing The Firebird made me determined to continue improvising on the piano when my father was out of the house, and to notate my own music with an increasing degree of knowing that I had happened upon a new and exciting mode of expression." ...
Source: Article "Paul Bowles" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For | Writing |
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Most Rating | 1.607 |
Birthday | 1910-12-30 |
Place of Birth | Queens, New York, USA |
Also Known As |
1999
Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles
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One of the most enigmatic artists of the 20th century, writer, composer and wanderer Paul Bowles (1910-1999) is profiled by a filmmaker who has been o...
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Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles
1957
8 X 8: A Chess-Sonata in 8 Movements
5.9/12
8 x 8: A Chess-Sonata in 8 Movements is an American experimental film directed by Hans Richter, Marcel Duchamp, and Jean Cocteau. Described by Richter...
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8 X 8: A Chess-Sonata in 8 Movements
1936
145 W. 21
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A romantic pair leaves their flat for a desultory burlesque show and two workmen take advantage of the empty house to pilfer a wallet.
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145 W. 21
1998
My Sweet Little Ass
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The film's principal character is Jean Neuenschwander, who left his home in French-speaking Switzerland in 1956 for Canada, where he was soon appointe...
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My Sweet Little Ass
1995
Paul Bowles: Half Moon
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Three short films based on short stories by expatriate American novelist Paul Bowles capture the sense of loss and alienation so common in his works....
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Paul Bowles: Half Moon
1990
The Sheltering Sky
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An American couple drift toward emptiness in postwar North Africa.
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The Sheltering Sky
2013
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
5/3
The American composer and author Paul Bowles was a man with a great deal of charisma and influence. When he moved to Tangier, Morocco, in 1949, half t...
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Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
Paul Bowles in Morocco
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Documentary covering author Paul Bowles' time living in Morocco.
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Paul Bowles in Morocco
1994
Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider
5.5/4
This documentary chronicles the life of expatriate writer Paul Bowles through archival footage, photos and interviews with the author, who talks about...
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