Paul Bowles composed music, wrote books and traveled the world
with his wife, Jane, who died in 1973. He spent his remaining years
in Tangier, Morocco. Paul died November 18, 1999.
with his wife, Jane, who died in 1973. He spent his remaining years
in Tangier, Morocco. Paul died November 18, 1999.
“Alert but detached, Bowles was reclining on a pallet in his
heavily curtained bedroom, overheated by a primitive heater,
a blowtorch attached to a gas canister. He liked the heat, had
once spent his winters on a Sri Lankan island he had purchased.
And now in this small hot room, with the shades drawn, he was
on another island. No living space could have been smaller
than this back room where he obviously lived and worked;
he ate here, he wrote here, he slept here. His books, his music,
his medicine. His world had shrunk to these walls. But that was
merely the way it seemed…. His world was within his mind,
and his imagination was vast.”
heavily curtained bedroom, overheated by a primitive heater,
a blowtorch attached to a gas canister. He liked the heat, had
once spent his winters on a Sri Lankan island he had purchased.
And now in this small hot room, with the shades drawn, he was
on another island. No living space could have been smaller
than this back room where he obviously lived and worked;
he ate here, he wrote here, he slept here. His books, his music,
his medicine. His world had shrunk to these walls. But that was
merely the way it seemed…. His world was within his mind,
and his imagination was vast.”
– Paul Theroux,
The Pillars of Hercules
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