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Product Description
Product Description
In these hauntingly beautiful stories of abandonment and vengeance, extreme situations lead to disturbing conclusions. A missionary is sent to a place so distant he finds his God has no power there; a husband abandons his wife as they honeymoon in the South American jungle; a splash of water triggers an explosion of violence; and a boy's drug-induced transformation leads to cruelty enjoyed and suffered.
Masterfully written, these are chilling tales from sun-drenched and brutal climes.
About the Author
Born in New York in 1910, Paul Bowles is considered one of the most remarkable American authors of the twentieth century. He studied music with composer Aaron Copland before moving to Tangier, Morocco, with his wife, Jane. His first novel, The Sheltering Sky, was a bestseller in the 1950s and was made into a film by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1990. Bowles's prolific career included many musical compositions, novels, collections of short stories, and books of travel, poetry, and translations. His other novels were The Spider's Nest, Up Above The World and Let It Come Down.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is such a great collection, some of the most unusual stories you'll read. Bowles has a habit of letting his storylines peter out into a kind of purity of vision which can be extremely intense. The effect is often unexpectedly disturbing, and when he writes about these foreign countries his narratives leave very few points of reference for the reader. You end up feeling almost as lost as his protagonists half the time, yet the disorientating effect is all intentional - a great and uncommon experience.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book contains some of the greatest short stories I have ever read. Bowles' knack of succinctly capturing the cultural essence of a place is perfectly portrayed in this intriguing collection.
The banality of everyday life is transformed into an exotic maze of mysticism, magic and dare I say it, madness? This book is a must for anyone who appreciates the short story.
The Black Sparrow Press has produced a beautiful item in itself. Buy it!!
Keith Marley UK
The banality of everyday life is transformed into an exotic maze of mysticism, magic and dare I say it, madness? This book is a must for anyone who appreciates the short story.
The Black Sparrow Press has produced a beautiful item in itself. Buy it!!
Keith Marley UK
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Fantastic Short story collection, direct and poetic
7 July 1998
Format:Paperback
I love the stories of Paul Bowles. One of the few writers which spins a web of magic around his short stories without overdosing in adjectives. The worlds of bowles are often drawn in pure, brutal, indegenious colours, which you can nearly smell and taste when you read them. Many stories of him play in morocco (or south america), and if you want to learn something of these exciting countries and the culture, this is one of the best sources. It shows how much we can try to feel at home at foreign places and yet seldom succeed. Always in our head,ethoncentristic with friendship as the only real link to the other world. Bowles stories often leave me breathless at the end. They build up so much hope, so much plasticity and leave you nothing when you turn the last page. But even if the aftertaste seems to be a bitter one, you get enchanted, you read the next story, you want more. Then something after ten or fifteen books you can't wait to take the next plane to Africa... In some sense Bowles can be related to the Beat literature. The only thing is that Bowles didn't move on. He stayed in Tanger and his view of the world got much sharper than the one of the other beats. His protagonists still like to travel, they are searching for something, but what they find is beyond their dreams. It is naked realism and so strong that the mind begins to spin... (Look for P.B - Let it come down) LIGHT A CANDLE, READ A SHORT STORY OF THIS MARVELOUS COLLECTION AND WATCH FOR RESULTS...
If the short story "garden" will not enchanten you you probably are in desperate need of some of that moroccon majoun.
D.Mehring
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Good way to get into bowles
30 Jan 2000
Format:Paperback
A fabulous collection by one of the better fiction writers from this century. If you are new to Bowles, this is an excellent way to dig in and see and what he is about. East/West cultural differences, bizarre mysticism and brutality are some of the main ideas explored here with his characteristic almost dead-pan descriptions that are both beautiful and brutal in their honesty. Learn why he has been cited as one of the best writers by everyone from the Beats to Raymond Carver. Set apart from them all in Africa, he still managed to influence all of them in major ways. Open it and enjoy.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A truly great collection
10 Oct 1999
Format:Paperback
At his best, Bowles is rarely matched as a short story writer (A Distant Episode, The Frozen Fields, Pastor Dowe at Tacate, The Time of Friendship, The Delicate Prey, etc.). Precise, detached prose which often sustains a terrifying and revealing intensity of atmosphere. Any fans of "horror" would love this, though much of the terror is implied, psychological. There's also a few 4-5 pg. hallucinogenic (sp?) pieces which don't do much for me. Well worth reading. And reading (have read A Distant Episode three times).
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