Paul Bowles


Born
in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, The United States
December 10, 1910

Died
November 18, 1999

Website

Genre


Paul Frederic Bowles grew up in New York, and attended college at the University of Virginia before traveling to Paris, where became a part of Gertrude Stein's literary and artistic circle. Following her advice, he took his first trip to Tangiers in 1931 with his friend, composer Aaron Copeland.

In 1938 he married author and playwright Jane Auer (see: Jane Bowles). He moved to Tangiers permanently in 1947, with Auer following him there in 1948. There they became fixtures of the American and European expatriate scene, their visitors including Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal. Bowles continued to live in Tangiers after the death of his wife in 1973.

Bowles died of heart failure in Tangier on November 18, 1999. His ashes were int
...more

Average rating: 3.91 · 49,845 ratings · 4,389 reviews · 251 distinct worksSimilar authors
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The Stories of Paul Bowles

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Up Above the World

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More books by Paul Bowles…
Quotes by Paul Bowles  (?)
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“Death is always on the way, but the fact that you don't know when it will arrive seems to take away from the finiteness of life. It's that terrible precision that we hate so much. But because we don't know, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”
Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

“Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps 20. And yet it all seems limitless.”
Paul Bowles

“How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”
Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

Polls

July is literary/general fiction. Poll will be open for votes until Thursday, June 10.

Faithful Faithful by Alice Hoffman Alice Hoffman
 
  3 votes, 50.0%

The Sheltering Sky The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles Paul Bowles
 
  1 vote, 16.7%

 
  1 vote, 16.7%

 
  1 vote, 16.7%


The Virgin in the Garden The Virgin in the Garden by A.S. Byatt A.S. Byatt
 
  0 votes, 0.0%

The Line That Held Us The Line That Held Us by David Joy David Joy
 
  0 votes, 0.0%

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