Paul Bowles facts for kids

Paul Bowles, a famous American writer and composer.

Paul Frederic Bowles (born December 30, 1910 – died November 18, 1999) was an American composer, author, and translator. He was known for living most of his life outside his home country. Paul Bowles settled in the Moroccan city of Tangier in 1947. He lived there for 52 years until he passed away.

Paul grew up in New York City. He showed a lot of talent for music and writing from a young age. He went to the University of Virginia for a short time. In the 1930s, he made several trips to Paris, France. He studied music with a famous composer named Aaron Copland. In New York, he wrote music for plays and other musical pieces.

He became very successful with his first novel, The Sheltering Sky, published in 1949. This book was set in French North Africa, a place he had visited in 1931. In 1947, Bowles moved to Tangier, Morocco. His wife, Jane Bowles, joined him there in 1948. Tangier became his home for the rest of his life, except for some winters spent in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the early 1950s. He became a symbol for Americans living in the city.

Paul Bowles died in 1999 when he was 88 years old. His ashes are buried in Lakemont, New York, near his family's graves.

Paul Bowles's Early Life

Growing Up and School (1910–1930)

Paul Bowles was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. He was the only child of Rena and Claude Dietz Bowles, who was a dentist. His childhood was comfortable, but his father was strict and didn't like fun or entertainment. Paul and his mother were afraid of his father. A family story says his father tried to harm him as a baby. Paul believed this story and felt it showed his difficult relationship with his father.

His mother brought warmth to his childhood. She read him stories by authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. Paul later said that Poe's stories made him want to write his own. He wrote stories such as "A Distant Episode".

Paul could read by age 3 and was writing stories by age 4. He soon started writing unusual poetry and music. When he was 11, he bought his first poetry book. At 17, one of his poems was published in a literary magazine called transition. This magazine was based in Paris and featured many important modern writers.

Paul's interest in music also started when he was a child. His father bought a phonograph and classical music records. Paul was interested in jazz, but his father didn't allow those records. His family bought a piano, and Paul studied music theory, singing, and piano. When he was 15, he saw a performance of Stravinsky's The Firebird. This experience deeply impressed him. He decided to keep playing piano and writing his own music. Paul went to Jamaica High School in Queens, New York.

Paul started at the University of Virginia in 1928. He was interested in many things, including music by Prokofiev and Duke Ellington. In April 1929, he left college without telling his parents. He sailed to Paris with no plans to return. He later said he wasn't running away, but "running toward something." Paul worked for a newspaper in Paris for a few months. He also became friends with the poet Tristan Tzara. By July, he returned to New York and worked at a bookshop.

His parents insisted he go back to the University of Virginia. But he left after one semester to return to Paris. This time, he went with Aaron Copland, who was his music teacher in New York. Copland was a very important person in Paul's life. They remained friends for life. In Paris in 1930, Paul started his first musical piece, the Sonata for Oboe and Clarinet. It was first performed in New York in 1931.

Life in France and New York (1931–1946)

In Paris, Paul Bowles joined a group of writers and artists led by Gertrude Stein. She suggested he visit Tangier, Morocco. He went there with Aaron Copland in the summer of 1931. They rented a house overlooking Tangier Bay. Morocco later became Paul's full-time home. It also inspired many of his short stories. From Tangier, he went to Berlin, Germany. There, he met British writers Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood.

In 1937, Bowles returned to New York. For the next ten years, he became a well-known composer. He worked with famous people like Orson Welles and Tennessee Williams. He wrote music for plays and also orchestral pieces.

In 1938, he married Jane Auer, who was also a writer. They briefly joined a political party but left it soon after. Paul Bowles was often called a "gay writer," but he felt such labels were not important. After a short time in France, Paul and Jane were important figures in New York's literary scene in the 1940s. Paul also worked as a music critic for the New York Herald Tribune.

In 1945, Paul Bowles started writing stories again. He said his wife, Jane, was the main reason he began writing fiction as an adult. She had published her first novel in 1943.

Life in Tangier

Early Years in Tangier (1947–1956)

In 1947, Paul Bowles received a contract to write a novel. He used the money to move permanently to Tangier, Morocco. Jane joined him there the next year. Paul said he wanted to write a novel because he was tired of writing music for other people.

Paul traveled alone into the Algerian Sahara desert to work on his novel. He said he wrote "in bed in hotels in the desert." He used his own experiences to inspire his writing. He named his novel The Sheltering Sky after a song he remembered from childhood. It was first published in England in 1949. His American publisher first rejected it, but then published it after it became popular.

The book is about three Americans traveling through the Algerian desert. The playwright Tennessee Williams said the book was like a "summer thunderstorm." It quickly became a best-seller.

In 1950, Bowles published his first collection of short stories. Some of his most famous stories were not included at first. This was because some people thought they were too strong or might cause problems with censorship. The American edition, The Delicate Prey and Other Stories, did include these stories.

His second novel, Let It Come Down (1952), was set in Tangier. It showed how an American man struggled when he met a very different culture. His third novel, The Spider's House (1955), was set in Fez, Morocco, just before Morocco became independent in 1956. This novel explored the relationships between immigrants and a young Moroccan. Reviewers noticed that this book was different because it talked about politics, like the conflict between Moroccan nationalism and French rule.

While focusing on his writing, Paul also composed music for plays at the American School of Tangier. Paul and Jane Bowles became well-known among the Americans and Europeans living in Tangier. Many famous writers visited them, including Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. Later, William S. Burroughs and the Beat writers Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso also visited.

In 1951, Bowles met the Master Musicians of Jajouka, a famous group of Moroccan musicians. He wrote about his connection with them in his book, Days: A Tangier Journal. In 1952, Bowles bought a small island called Taprobane off the coast of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He wrote much of The Spider's House there. He spent most winters in Sri Lanka.

Moroccan Music and Translations (1957–1973)

In 1957, Jane Bowles had a stroke. Her health slowly got worse, and Paul took care of her until she died in 1973.

In the late 1950s, Morocco gained its independence. With money from the Rockefeller Foundation and help from the US Library of Congress, Bowles traveled across Morocco in 1959. He recorded traditional Moroccan music with two helpers. From 1959 to 1961, Bowles recorded many different types of music from various groups in Morocco. This included music from Sephardic Jewish communities.

During these years, Bowles also translated works by Moroccan authors and storytellers. These included Mohamed Choukri and Mohammed Mrabet. In 1968, Bowles was a visiting teacher at a college in California. He taught writing and modern European novels. In 1970, Bowles helped start a literary magazine called Antaeus in Tangier. It featured many new and established writers.

Later Years (1974–1995)

After his wife Jane died in 1973, Paul Bowles continued to live in Tangier. He wrote regularly and welcomed many visitors to his apartment.

In the summers of 1980 and 1982, Bowles led writing workshops in Morocco. Many of his students became successful authors, including Rodrigo Rey Rosa. Bowles chose Rey Rosa to manage his and Jane Bowles's writings after they were gone.

In 1982, Bowles published Points in Time, a collection of stories and travel notes about Morocco. He also worked on translating poems by Gertrude Stein. In 1985, Bowles translated a short story by Jorge Luis Borges.

In 1988, when asked about his social life, Bowles said it was mostly limited to those who served him and people who wanted to interview him. When asked about his achievements, he simply said, "I've written some books and some music."

Paul Bowles had a small role in the 1990 film version of The Sheltering Sky. His music was not well-known for a long time. But in the 1990s, new musicians became interested in his compositions again. In 1994, the writer Paul Theroux visited and interviewed Bowles for his travel book.

Final Years (1995–1999)

In 1995, Bowles made his last trip to New York. He was invited to a "Paul Bowles Festival" at Lincoln Center to celebrate his music. A documentary about his life, Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles, won an award in New York City.

Visitors in 1998 said that Bowles was still sharp and witty. He continued to welcome visitors to his apartment in Tangier. However, he limited interviews on the advice of doctors and friends. One of his last interviews was with Stephen Morison, Jr., in 1999. Another interview focused on his music career.

Paul Bowles died of heart failure on November 18, 1999, in Tangier. He was 88 years old and had been ill with breathing problems. His ashes were buried in Lakemont, New York, next to his parents and grandparents.

Paul Bowles and Tangier

Paul Bowles lived in Tangier for 52 of his 88 years. He became strongly connected with the city. Many people linked his life to his time living there.

When Bowles first visited Tangier in 1931, he and Aaron Copland saw it as an exciting, unfamiliar place. Tangier was a mix of cultures, with people from Berber, Arab, Spanish, French, and other European backgrounds. They spoke many languages and followed different religions. The city was also controlled by several foreign countries, including the United States. Bowles was fascinated by its culture.

By the time he returned in 1947, the city had changed a bit, but he still found it interesting. In 1955, there were protests as Moroccans sought independence. In 1956, Tangier returned to full Moroccan control.

Music by Paul Bowles

How His Music Developed

Paul Bowles first studied music with Aaron Copland. Later, he also worked with Virgil Thomson. Paul first thought of himself as a poet. But some famous writers in Paris, like Gertrude Stein, encouraged him to focus on music instead.

His early music, which included piano improvisations, impressed both Copland and Thomson. Copland said that Bowles's music was "full of charm and melodic invention." He added that Bowles's music was always fresh and never boring.

However, Paul Bowles never had much formal music training. Copland tried to teach him music theory, but Paul was a stubborn student. Despite this, with help from Thomson, he became successful in New York. He wrote music for many plays. He worked with famous directors and writers like Orson Welles and Tennessee Williams.

During World War II, he also worked as a music reviewer for a newspaper. He was good at this job because he wrote clearly and had good judgment. After the war, he moved to Tangier. He continued his music and writing, but slowly focused more on writing. Virgil Thomson later described him as "a novelist and story writer of international repute."

Paul Bowles said that he could express his deeper feelings through writing. He felt his music was more joyful, but his writing allowed him to show a "more nocturnal side" of his personality. With the success of The Sheltering Sky, Bowles became known as a writer. His writing career soon became more famous than his music.

Renewed Interest in His Music

Only in the last ten years of his life did people become interested in his music again. This led to a concert in Paris in 1994, which Paul Bowles attended. The concert featured his songs and piano pieces. This renewed interest showed that, as Bowles himself said, "Music only exists when it is played."

This new respect for his music led to several commercial recordings. In 2016, two CDs of Bowles's complete piano works were released. These recordings included pieces inspired by Latin American themes. They also featured arrangements of his Blue Mountain Ballads for piano.

Recording Moroccan Music

Paul Bowles was a pioneer in recording traditional music from North Africa. From 1959 to 1961, he made field recordings of traditional Moroccan music for the US Library of Congress. In just five months, he recorded 250 examples of different Moroccan music styles. This included dance music, religious music, and music for celebrations. Bowles understood that modern culture would change traditional music. He wanted to save some of it for the future.

Bowles noted that musicians and singers often told stories and celebrated important events through their songs. This included songs about Morocco's fight for independence.

His collection of recorded music is called The Paul Bowles Collection. It is kept at the US Library of Congress. It includes about sixty hours of traditional music, along with photos and maps.

Translating Other Authors

In the 1960s, Bowles started translating and collecting stories. These were from the oral traditions of Moroccan storytellers. His most notable collaborators included Mohammed Mrabet and Mohamed Choukri.

He also translated works by writers from other countries. These authors wrote in Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Some of them were Jorge Luis Borges and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Paul Bowles's Impact

Paul Bowles is seen as one of the artists who shaped 20th-century literature and music. The writer Gore Vidal said that Bowles's short stories are "among the best ever written by an American." Vidal felt that Bowles showed the hidden dangers beneath our seemingly stable world.

Critics have said that his music is "full of light," which is a contrast to his often "dark" fiction. It's almost as if the composer and the writer were different people. His early music was similar to composers like Satie. When he returned to New York, he became a leading composer of music for American theater. He was very skilled at creating the right mood for each play. He said this music allowed him to create "hypnotic music" that affected the audience without them even realizing it. He also continued to write concert music, using elements from African and Latin American music.

In 1991, Bowles received the Rea Award for the Short Story. The jury praised him as a storyteller with great honesty. They said he wrote about a world where people facing extreme situations are part of a larger, more basic drama. They called his writing "crystalline" and his voice "unique."

The historic American Legation in Tangier has a whole section dedicated to Paul Bowles. In 2010, they received a donation of his furniture, photos, and documents. The Library of America published a collection of Bowles's works in 2002.

Works by Paul Bowles

Music Compositions

1931 – Sonata for Oboe and Clarinet
1936 – Horse Eats Hat, play music
1937 – Yankee Clipper, ballet music
1938 – Music for a Farce
1939 – My Heart's in the Highlands, play music
1941 – Liberty Jones, play music
1942 – The Wind Remains, a Spanish-style opera
1943 – Sonata for Flute and Piano
1944 – The Glass Menagerie, play music
1946 – Blue Mountain Ballads (songs with words by Tennessee Williams)
1947 – Sonata for Two Pianos
1953 – A Picnic Cantata
1955 – Yerma, opera
1959 – Sweet Bird of Youth, play music

Novels

1949 – The Sheltering Sky
1952 – Let It Come Down
1955 – The Spider's House
1966 – Up Above the World

Short Story Collections

1950 – A Little Stone
1950 – The Delicate Prey and Other Stories
1959 – The Hours After Noon
1962 – A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard
1979 – Collected Stories, 1939–1976
1982 – Points in Time

Poetry Collections

1968 – Scenes
1981 – Next to Nothing: Collected Poems, 1926–1977

Selected Translations

1946 – No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
1964 – A Life Full Of Holes by Driss Ben Hamed Charhadi
1967 – Love with a Few Hairs by Mohammed Mrabet
1973 – For Bread Alone by Mohamed Choukri
1985 – The Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges

Autobiography and Travel Books

1957 – Yallah (travel book with photos)
1972 – Without Stopping (autobiography)
1991 – Days: Tangier Journal (autobiography)

Images for kids

Paul Bowles, a famous American writer and composer.