Jane Bowles

Author profile

born

February 22, 1917 in New York, The United States

died

May 04, 1973

gender

female

About this author

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Born Jane Sydney Auer, Jane Bowles's total body of work consists of one novel, one play, and six short stories. Yet John Ashbery said of her: "It is to be hoped that she will be recognized for what she is: one of the finest modern writers of fiction in any language." Tennessee Williams called her the most underrated writer of fiction in American literature. During her lifetime and since her death in 1973, she has been considered a writer's writer, little known to the general public but with a loyal following of intensely devoted readers.

She was born in New York City on February 22, 1917, the daughter of Sidney Auer and Claire Stajer Auer. Her childhood was spent in Woodmere, Long Island. On her father's death in 1930, Jane and her mother m...more Born Jane Sydney Auer, Jane Bowles's total body of work consists of one novel, one play, and six short stories. Yet John Ashbery said of her: "It is to be hoped that she will be recognized for what she is: one of the finest modern writers of fiction in any language." Tennessee Williams called her the most underrated writer of fiction in American literature. During her lifetime and since her death in 1973, she has been considered a writer's writer, little known to the general public but with a loyal following of intensely devoted readers.

She was born in New York City on February 22, 1917, the daughter of Sidney Auer and Claire Stajer Auer. Her childhood was spent in Woodmere, Long Island. On her father's death in 1930, Jane and her mother moved back to Manhattan. As an adolescent she developed tuberculosis of the knee. Her mother took her to a sanatorium in Leysin, Switzerland, where she was put in traction for many months. During this time she developed an intense love of literature and an equally intense series of obsessions and fears. Upon her return to New York she began to experiment with writing a novel and with sexual adventures with men and women, though primarily with women.

In 1937 she met Paul Bowles, and in the following year they were married and set off for a honeymoon in Central America, which was to be, in part, the locale of her novel Two Serious Ladies. The Bowleses went on to Paris, where she started writing and at the same time visited lesbian bars. The marriage remained a sexual marriage for about a year and a half, but after that Jane and Paul lived separate sexual lives. After returning to New York in 1938, the Bowleses went on to Mexico, where Jane continued to work on her novel and also met Helvetia Perkins, who was to become her lover.

Two Serious Ladies was published in 1943. The reviews were mostly uncomprehending. Soon, Paul, who had been involved in the editing of Two Serious Ladies, began to write short stories, which were immediately published with great distinction. Jane, having published a few short stories, began to work on a novel, but ran up against a serious writer's block.

In 1947 Paul went to Morocco to work on The Sheltering Sky. Jane followed him there the following year. She continued to struggle to work, and published several short stories, including her masterpiece, "Camp Cataract," and began to work seriously on her play In the Summer House. In Tangier, where the Bowleses resided, Jane fell in love with a Moroccan peasant woman.

In the Summer House was performed on Broadway in 1953 to mixed reviews. Jane returned to Tangier and continued to try to write a novel, but her attention was primarily devoted to her love affair with Cherifa, the Moroccan woman, to affairs with other women and also to a social life in which she did a considerable amount of drinking.

In 1957 she suffered a serious stroke, which affected her sight and her capacity to imagine. Nevertheless, notebook after notebook attests to her still continuing struggle to try to write. Her condition worsened, and after hospitalizations in England, New York and Málaga, Spain, she was confined in the Clinica de Los Angeles in Málaga, where she died in 1973.

Yet it should be noted that despite this tragic story, her personality captivated many people. She was brilliant and witty, always doing and saying the unexpected thing. She was in every way as surprising as her work, one moment mystical, the next moment hilariously funny.

Copyright © 2003, by Millicent Dillon(less)

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Books by Jane Bowles

Average rating: 4.04 · 721 ratings · 96 reviews · 16 distinct works

	Two Serious Ladies 3.93 avg rating — 329 ratings — published 1943 — 12 editions	My rating:
	My Sister's Hand in Mine: The Collected Works of Jane Bowles by Jane Bowles, Truman Capote (Introduction), Joy Williams (Preface by) 4.20 avg rating — 249 ratings — published 1966 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Plain Pleasures 3.89 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 1985 — 10 editions	My rating:
	The Collected Works of Jane Bowles. by Jane Bowles, Truman Capote (Introduction) 4.30 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 1966	My rating:
	Out in the World: Selected Letters, 1935-1970 by Jane Bowles, Millicent Dillon (Editor) 3.83 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 1985 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Everything Is Nice 4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1989	My rating:
	Feminine Wiles 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1976 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Sa Maison D'été 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1995	My rating:
	Eine Richtige Kleine Sünde: Prosa Etc by Jane Bowles, Edouard Roditi (Vorwort), Adelheid Dormagen (Übersetzer) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1988	My rating:
	Meditations for Women Who Spend Too Much 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2002	My rating:

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Quotes by Jane Bowles

“I am so wily and feminine that I could live by your side for a lifetime and deceive you afresh each day.”
― Jane Bowles

tags: feminine-wiles

7 people liked it

“I am a writer and I want to write.”
― Jane Bowles

2 people liked it

“You see, I have a different nature than he has. What makes me happy I seem to catch out of the sky with both hands; I only hold whatever it is that I love because that is all I can really see.”
― Jane Bowles

2 people liked it

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Jane Bowles

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Jane Bowles

Quotes by Jane Bowles

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Jane Bowles