The life and work of Paul Bowles

Biographical information

Paul Bowles: a biographical essay
by Allen Hibbard

Jane Bowles: a short biography
by Millicent Dillon

Paul Bowles
Wikipedia

Paul and Jane Bowles: photographs

Obituaries:
New York Times; BBC;The Guardian; New Music box


Research resources

Paul Bowles, 1910-1999
An online exhibition (University of Delaware Library).

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
Musical and literary manuscripts.

University of Texas
Bowles papers, manuscripts, letters, photographs and other documents.


Bowles websites

Paulbowles.org
The authorised Paul Bowles website. Includes biographical essays, catalogues of his literary and musical works, and photographs by friends and colleagues. The site was started by the estate of Paul Bowles after his death in 1999.

Distant Episode
A multi-media tribute to Bowles

Gotze Kalsbeek's Bowles site


The Beat Generation

The Beats in Tangier

When Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac were creating the Beat sensation in the 1950s, their friend and mentor William S. Burroughs was halfway across the world in Tangier.

Having run into legal trouble in the US, Burroughs hid in Tangier after reading about it in the works of Paul Bowles. Paul and Jane Bowles became his friends.

While in Morocco, Burroughs wrote much of the raw material for the Naked Lunch (which also became a film). The title was suggested by Kerouac, who travelled to Tangier with Ginsberg to visit him.

For more about the Beat Generation see litkicks.com.

The Beats order lunch
Interview in New York with Bowles and Burroughs by Craig Offman of Salon Books (1995).


Articles and interviews

Writing the Outsider's Story
Robert Couteau talks to Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno, author of the Bowles biography, "An Invisible Spectator"

Tangier Days: Talking with Paul Bowles, 1984-1988
by Richard F. Patteson, author of An Outside World: the Fiction of Paul Bowles (1987)

Paul Bowles remembered
"Some people think he's God". By Ken Smith, New Music Box, December 1999

Interview
Bowles talks to Ken Smith and Frank J. Oteri, Tangier, 1 January, 1998 (New Music Box)

Tired in Tangier
Interview with Asshole Magazine, 1998

The failure of Paul Bowles
by Matthew Sharpe

A bizarre conversation with Paul Bowles

Moroccan sojourn
A visit to Bowles by Annette Solyst in 1996


Literary Bowles

Catalogue of Paul Bowles' literary works
by Allen Hibbard

Catalogue of Jane Bowles' literary works

French-language bibliography


In his own words ...

Fez [1984]
by Paul Bowles

Journey Through Morocco [1963]
by Paul Bowles

The Worlds of Tangier [1958]
by Paul Bowles

How to Live on a Part-Time Island [1957]
by Paul Bowles


Musical Bowles

Paul Bowles, composer
by Irene Herrmann

"I Never Liked to Raise My Voice"
Interview on music by Phillip Ramey

Catalogue of Paul Bowles' musical works
by Irene Herrmann and Benjamin Folkman

Catalogue of Paul Bowles' scores
by Irene Herrmann

Paul Bowles’ music
Two sound clips

Paul Bowles' Moroccan music collection, 1957-1972
Recordingsof Moroccan music (and related materials) made by Bowles for the US Library of Congress.


Bowles on video

Paul Bowles in Morocco (1970)
Bowles reflects on his life in Morocco since the 1940s in a documentary portrait which evokes many of the ominous tones that are familiar in his writings.

Paul Bowles: Complete Outsider (1993)

Other documentaries and films