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A TELLING BIOGRAPHY

Dubbed "The Great Unknown" of contemporary literature, expatriate writer Paul Bowles continues to intrigue.The author of "The Sheltering Sky" and "The Delicate Prey" described himself as an outsider, yet almost indiscriminately opened his home in Tangier to all who tracked him down there.

Apparently Bowles liked to think of himself as a recluse, yet in 1931, he said, "As you know I like to meet everyone in the world at least once."

Paired with the indefatigable Jane Bowles in one of literature's most famous marriages, he alternately admired and provoked his fellow author.Her death at the age of 56 was surely one of the great traumas of his life.

Long curious about Bowles, Gena Dagel Caponi has crafted a telling biography by drawing on correspondence and interviews with the subject himself as well as many of his contemporaries, friends and editors.She is also the editor of "Conversations with Paul Bowles."

- Gail Cooke ... Read more

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The famously enigmatic writer-composer Paul Bowles is the subject of Millicent Dillon's unforgettable new book. Her portrait of the chameleonlike artist is much more than an account of Bowles's life, however. It is also a meditation on biography that questions the biographer's role, the subject's credibility, and the very nature of "truth" in the telling of a life.

Millicent Dillon first met Paul Bowles in Tangier in 1977, when she was writing a biography of his wife, the author Jane Bowles, who died in 1973. Dillon returned to Morocco in 1992 to work with Bowles on a book about his own life. In Bowles's book-lined apartment often crowded with visitors, Dillon observes the magnetism the aging artist exerts on anyone who comes into his circle. Bowles talks of his difficult childhood and of his grief over Jane's long illness, of exile, dreams, and madness. He is charming and evasive with Dillon, generous and devious. As the book unfolds, Dillon's own reflections and concerns surface alongside details of Bowles's daily life, his physical condition, his interactions with others. Her portrait of the artist is seen simultaneously with her construction of that portrait, and in a kind of literary legerdemain we are able to observe Dillon on the biographical canvas along with Bowles and his deceased wife.

Author of the international bestseller The Sheltering Sky and numerous other works, as well as an acclaimed composer, Paul Bowles has had an immensely rich creative life. Millicent Dillon seems to have been destined to write this unconventional biography of the artist, and the result is wonderful, disturbing, and strangely compelling, like Paul Bowles himself.Amazon.com Review
At the center of Millicent Dillon's provocatively titledYou Are Not I burns a mystery. The ever elusive Paul Bowlesindirectly captured Dillon's attention. When in Tangier, Morocco, atwork on her biography of Jane Bowles (A Little OriginalSin, 1981), she was told repeatedly by friends of the Bowlesthat she bore an uncanny physical resemblance to Jane. For Dillon,this burgeoned into a compulsion, which she found"...unsettling, as if I am overstepping a line, violating thatmost rudimentary law of biography--not to confuse oneself with one'ssubject." Alas, in spite of the strong declaration implicit inthe biography's title, one is made uncomfortably aware of the author'swavering boundaries. "To be a biographer," Dillonconfesses, "meant that I was in the grip of an obsession."

Rejecting chronology as the chief organizing element of herbiography, Dillon interweaves the "facts"--mundane andextraordinary--of Bowles's life with both of her Moroccan journeys(the Jane project of 1977; the Paul project of '91), constructing hisportrait through their conversations and her subsequentreflections. Such a prismatic approach indeed celebrates Bowles'sobliquity as a subject. But then, Millicent Dillon is herself"...in search of a different kind of knowing--one that isconsonant with secrecy, one that ... is more akin to the knowing onehas of a character in a work of fiction." That unique teasing outof the truth makes You Are Not I an exploration of the form,biography, itself.

Bowles was born on Long Island. As a child heleaned toward musical composition and short story writing. In youngadulthood, he would study with Aaron Copland, and later, mingle inParis with the likes of Gertrude Stein, who advised him to journey toMorocco with Copland to work on music. He married Jane (in 1938); shehad had affairs with women only; he'd had bisexual attachments. Paulcontinued his involvement with avant-garde music; Jane struggledwith her novel, Two Serious Ladies. As he helped her, his oldlove of fiction was triggered, and in 1949, he published TheSheltering Sky, which became an international bestseller. AfterJane Bowles's death, Paul's work life receded. It would beBertolucci's film of The Sheltering Sky (1987) that deliveredBowles back into the public eye.

By risking subjectivity, placingherself firmly in the "process" of biography, Dillon becomesunwilling to make absolute statements about her subject. An annoyingcacophony ensues--of impressions, of contradictory and ellipticalconversations, the contents of which refuse to be assignedsignificance. But it's not entirely annoying, for the utterforeignness of Bowles's world flashes through. Along with the accountsof the continuous smoking of cannabis and cigarettes, we're givenvivid glimpses of a uniquely bohemian life, carved out of exile.YouAre Not I has everything--the romance of the far away; on-the-scene reporting of a place at once sensuous and creepy. It's aguide for those intrigued both with the form of biography and with thelife of the writer who would come to fear going out in public; whoneeded to smoke kif (cannabis) to relieve his almost continuousanxiety; who "abhorred directness." And it is nothing lessthan a quest to solve some fundamental mystery about the self, as ifMillicent Dillon got entangled in a Paul Bowles story and is compelledby the force of the narrative events to ride them through to thereexhilarating, perhaps fatal, finish. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A very revealing portrait of a very reclusive writer
Paul Bowles, probably best known for The Sheltering Sky, which arrived on the literary scene in 1949 signaling the impending arrival of that Pandora's Box better known as Postmodernism, was a living literary anachronism. He was the American expatriate artist non plus ultra, the bohemian incarnate, someone who had turned his back on America in a quiet gesture of rebellion to follow his true calling as a writer and composer, travelling the world and finally coming to rest in distant, exotic Tangier. The fact that he'd quit college and run away to Paris to rub shoulders with the literati and surrealists, and had managed to be received by Gertrude Stein, confirmed for many the non-academic view of how one could move up in the world. And the fact that it was Gertrude Stein who suggested to Bowles that he stop writing poetry, and that he should visit Tangier, sanctioned the belief in the life-altering powers of chance and synchronicity, endearing him to the Beats, the hippies, and generations to come.
Above all, it was Bowles' unique stance as an outsider in the otherwise clubby world of literature that appealed to many. Although frequently associated with the Beats, other than a few snapshots where he appears in the company of Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Gregory Corso, and despite the fact that Bowles was also an experimenter with drugs and their relation to creativity, he really didn't have much in common with the Beats. Bowles was too much the dandy and gentleman, travelling through North Africa in his Jaguar sedan with his Moroccan driver, complete with stacks of trunks and suitcases full of impeccable suits and ties and shoes, sometimes even accompanied by a parrot in a cage, about as far from On The Road as one could get while still being on the road. Bowles was Bowles wherever he went, which seemed to follow a course along the frontier of Western civilization, especially those places where it came into dangerously close contact with primitive or native cultures that had little respect or even understanding of Western ways, a sort of moveable confrontation which formed the basis of the majority of his literary work. His macabre and at time nihilistic stories and novels had more in common with post-war existentialism than anything Beat or beatific.
Despite numerous interviews and articles, as well as several full-scale biographies, the opaque and enigmatic nature of Paul Bowles was already legendary in his own lifetime. Even his autobiography, Without Stopping (dubbed Without Telling by William Burroughs), told the reader basically nothing. Millicent Dillon, an excellent writer in her own right, and editor of Out in the World: Selected Letters of Jane Bowles, 1935-1970, as well as The Portable Paul and Jane Bowles, already proved her acumen and talent for biographical writing with her highly acclaimed book, A Little Original Sin, The Life and Works of Jane Bowles. In You Are Not I, A portrait of Paul Bowles, Dillon pushes the envelope of biographical writing to new extremes. Much of this book is based on her visits to Tangier to interview Paul Bowles for her biography of his wife, Jane. Gradually, the idea for a book about Paul Bowles himself began to take shape, a project which began in 1992. Eschewing the standard chronological mode of biography, Dillon has opted for an innovative blend of factual material, conversations, and speculation, using her first meeting with Bowles in 1977 as a point of departure. Utilizing the intimacy of her relationship with Paul Bowles that was established during Dillon's research and countless interviews concerning his wife, it required only a subtle shift to put the focus on Bowles himself. What follows is an absorbing narrative which eventually becomes a self-reflexive consideration of the biographical process itself. The penetrative nature of Dillon's questioning and Bowles' frank answers sometimes pushed their conversations into the realm of psychodrama. The resulting "portrait" is astonishingly detailed and revealing, simultaneously expanding and deconstructing the existing parameters of biographical writing, a biography turned "inside out."
The Paul Bowles that emerges remains as enigmatic as ever, but thanks to Dillon's oblique line of inquiry and sensitivity to her subject, we are given a rare opportunity to peer behind the sphinx-like facade of one of the twentieth century's most complex and inscrutable writers.

A portrait of who?
I have to agree with another reviewer, I didn't think it was a radical new direction for biography either...I'm not even done with the book yet and I'm still waiting for Ms. Dillon to begin shifting the focus of her investigations away from herself and Jane Bowles.
Right now I'm thinking that perhaps I'd prefer reading The Invisible Spectator by Christopher Sawyer-Laucanno.Maybe that would be a better portrait of Mr. Bowles...

Was she had?
Just finished the book.Fascinating in its detail about Bowles' life in North Africa.But, a new form of biography?No, I don't think so.Rather, a series of extended interviews with Dillon's highly subjective and personal analytical apparatus attached to them.Or, simply a memoir.I think there is a great danger of loss of perspective when a writer admires his / her subject too much, as well as admiring too muchhis / her relationship with the subject.I had this uncanny feeling all throughout the book that Bowles, as he did with other people he knew, was stringing Dillon along, knowing he could hand here just about anything for posterity.The photograph on the back fold of the dust jacket speaks volumes, as Dillon gazes in what looks like rapture upon an apparently inert Bowles.He wasn't that good of a writer.And, I disagree with both of them.Sheltering Sky was a fine film....

Yes! Read this book.
Yes, read this book.I liked it because I felt I was in this exotic, strangely present yet distant place, with Paul & Millicent Dillon.And also Jane.Maybe you know what I mean if you like Paul Bowles.

This is a loving book.It is a pleasant place to be -- with elements of disturbance, as you would expect.It is an addition to what you already have.

Bowles insight, Dillon too interested in herself.
Having spent a good deal of time reading the work of Paul Bowles, I found it an interesting read for the fact that it gave insight to Bowles and his recollections of life in a fascinating time.A time of which he shaped a piece. He's a tremendously interesting character, all the more engaging because of his modesty and self effacing style.

I found Millicent Dillon's style to be rather annoying, however.Dillon constantly returns to a focus on herself.She writesendlessly about herself, how she feels, how she writes, how she fits into it all - and that's not why I bought the book.I wanted to read about Bowles, and found Dillon putting herself into way too much of the book.She'd never be mistaken for a fly on the wall. ... Read more

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Fifteen years ago, Cherie Nutting returned to Morocco. She had first visited it as a child with her mother, and the images of mystery and the desert had stayed with her, fueled over the years by accounts of expatriate life and by the literature created there. In Tangier again, she met the most famous of the expatriates and author of the classic The Sheltering Sky. Cherie became a friend of Paul Bowles and part of his circle. Over the years, the friendship deepened and widened.

Yesterday's Perfume is a memoir of that friendship and of Cherie's love of Morocco. She had unparalleled access to Paul, and recorded, journal-like, their conversations and the events of everyday life. Interwoven among Cherie's narrative are bits and pieces of Paul's previously unpublished writings -- diarylike fragments, retellings of dreams, little stories -- a sharp counterpoint in his inimitable voice.

Unlike most memoirs, Yesterday's Perfume is blessed with a wealth of extraordinary images. Cherie has created a visual record of their friendship, capturing intimate moments, making formal portraits, recording the comings and goings of celebrities and friends. And here, too, the dialogue with Bowles continues, for Paul has jotted down his reactions in the borders and on the prints.

Several other friends have contributed to these pages, Peter Beard, Ned Rorem, and Bruce Weber among them. But key is the collaboration of Cherie and Paul. Together they have created a touching portrait of friendship and a road map to the mind of an artist.Amazon.com Review
The formidable charm of Paul Bowles radiates from every page of this unconventional memoir, which recalls Cherie Nutting's friendship with the expatriate American writer-composer during the last 13 years of his life. Nutting layers together text (her narrative, his journal extracts and unpublished writings) and photographs (of Bowles, his friends, and various significant objects) in a collage-like format. This impressionistic approach is highly appropriate to Bowles (1910-99), whose first published work appeared in a surrealist magazine, and who remained an avant-garde innovator in music and literature for half a century. Although 40 years his junior, Nutting has similar interests: she fell in love at age 10 with Morocco, his adopted homeland; and, when she read his best-known novel, The Sheltering Sky, in the 1970s, "the book meant everything" to her. Inspired by recurring dreams, she wrote to Bowles in 1985 and explained that "it was in my destiny that we should meet"; he responded with an invitation to visit him in Tangier. Her photos show a radiantly handsome old man, while her reminiscences of kif smoking, rambles through the Moroccan landscape, and pronouncements like "the illicit bouquet that smelled of yesterday's perfume" create a dreamy atmosphere. Readers who are disinclined to this sort of stargazing will find comic relief in a running subplot that involves the house that's being built for Nutting by Bowles's friend Mohammed Mrabet, who extracts substantial sums of money from both of them, gets angry whenever his plans are questioned, and takes a long time to complete the structure. Readers who are attuned to the special sensibility that's expressed in Bowles's life and work will find it evocatively captured here. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A POIGNANT MEMOIR OF PAUL BOWLES
Paul Bowles' collaboration with the photographer Cherie Nutting was a very special endeavor.It was his last writing before his death in November 1999.This hardcover book is beautifully produced, and Mr. Bowles himself actually handwrote some of the text and wholeheartedly participated in it.He relied on the artistic ability of his friend to produce--over a period of many years--such quality photos of himself and those around him.This is a 'must have' book for any afficionado of Paul Bowles.I highly recommend it.It is inconceivable to me why anyone would write a negative review, but perhaps those are the unfortunate and jealous souls who were not included.

Who is this woman?
Cherie Nutting somehow attached herself to Paul Bowles and took lots of photographs. Many of these are of herself in various gauzy poses. We also get the inside story in the form of her dreamlife. "Memoir" indeed, but who cares? What does all this have to do with Paul Bowles, especially the version that created the books and music? Toward the end of this volume we realize how lonely and confused Mr. Bowles was, and how ripe for an opportunistic Ms. Nutting. I don't know exactly what to call this thing, but the Bowles name would more correctly appear in it as a footnote.

A Rich Feast For the Senses
This is an untypical book about an untypical person.Just as the photographs of the Western and Southwestern landscape by Ansel Adams evoke the majesty of nature, so do the photographs of Cherie Nutting well represent the life and surroundings of the author Paul Bowles.The Bowles mystique is spread throughout the land.Here in Chicago respected Tribune columnist Jon Anderson and political and real estate consultant Phil Krone were among Bowles' friends and admirers.In a sense Nutting's volume pierces through the myth that Bowles was a reclusive hermit.In fact he was a very social and convivial man who balanced his life between the discipline of hard work that any craft requires, and the conduct of life as a traveler, not only through geography but minds as well.In a very lighthearted and elegiac way this is what Ms. Nutting captures.

A really poor book....
I was loooking forward to this book, hoping it would be about Paul, whom I knew fairly well and whose work I much admire. But it's not primarily about Paul; it's about Ms. Nutting and her silly fantasies. This book is sheer narcissism, an ego-trip par excellence. And Ms. Nutting's photos aren't all that good either. Why anyone would pay $75 ($60 on Amazon) for this nonsense is beyond me. Here are the same old stories (about Cherifa and Jane, etc.) told better elsewhere (i.e. in the biographies.) There's unattractive cattiness here as well -- for example the mean reference to the number of letters Paul may or may not have written to Debra Winger. Finally there's little perception into Paul's behavior -- the passive-aggressive way he manipulated everyone (especially the marginal people) around him. Paul Bowles was a superb writer and a fascinating man...but he was also a complex human being with plenty of faults and flaws. Unfortunately there's nothing here but empty idolatry.

Today's Banquet
Yesterday's Perfume is a veritable banquet of tastes and sensations as well as an honest and intimate tribute to the late Paul Bowles.

Cherie Nutting truly loved "Pablo" as she refers to him, and her photos reflect her affection and reverence.In his last year of life Bowles spent considerable time preparing observations and comments for this book to both make it more marketable and to demonstrate his affection for Cherie Nutting.

This is a very handsome book.Its photographs are rich in symbolism as well as substance.For those who are interested in Bowles, this book will be most satisfying indeed. ... Read more

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Allen Hibbard - A Study of the Short Fiction
Hibbard's book on the study of the short fiction of Paul Bowles is easily the best that is available on the subject, and Hibbard covers just about everything that the reader would want to know.

The book is split into 3 sections:1) The Short Fiction 2) The Writer and 3) The Critics. There are also many interviews with Bowles in this book, as well as many critical essays.

The main books covered are: 'The Delicate Prey', 'A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard', 'The Time of Friendship', 'Things Gone and Things Still Here', 'Midnight Mass' and 'Unwelcome Words and other stories'.

I recommend this book to any serious student of the fiction of Paul Bowles, as well as the casual reader, because this book is written in a readily understandable format, which in itself is very useful. ... Read more

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Claudio Bravo is one of the world's greatest hyperrealist painters, but such a label is too simple and insufficient for his dramatic, enigmatic work.He is known for his use of color, which seems to become more extravagant with the passage of time, and the increasingly mysterious arrangement of objects in his photo-perfect still lifes.Arranged in more or less chronological order, this newly updated volume traces Bravo's four decades of painting and drawing. The book also includes a catalogue raisonné, lists of exhibitions and collections, and bibliography, making it an invaluable resource for scholars as well as a highly readable profile of a remarkable man. "Bravo's paintings combine the precision of hyperrealism with the lush texture of a centuries-old classic, leaving one to ponder how, say, a rendering of a goat-each strand of hair taken into account-can mirror reality so acutely and, at the same time, transcend it." -New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Gorgeous
If you are a fan of this type of art you will be in heaven. The paintings in the book are absolutely awe-inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed studying the paintings and reading about Claudio Bravo.

An artbook to fall in love
Big, heavy and lovely artbook... perfect for the artbook collector. Fascinating paintings. Nice prints in good resolution (eventhough you see too much white space in my opinion and only 2 close up in the whole book). Good quality paper. To be honest I give it a five (5) because of the beauty of Bravo's paintings which makes you forgive Rizzoli.
Tip: if you are a painter, take pictures with your own camera to see the details. It's really amazing what you can find. He is definitely a perfectionist.

one of the best artbook i have...
wow! this is everything you want in an artwork...namely, tons of art! in an era where i have a feeling a lot of artists couldn't draw their way out of a paper bag, claudio bravo is here to remind us what real art actually looks like. a subperb draftsman who can draw as good as any of the old masters, and an excellent painter as well who pays attention to light and color and texture. save up for this one if you have to, but get it if you like realism at its best or are a fan of brillant still life paintings.

Don't buy this book if you have the first one.
Had I known that the book would be a complete repeat of his last book I would not have purchasted it.Only a few new paintings. I was extreemly dissapointed. The publersher should be ashamed of this product.

Worth its weight!
Claudio Bravo's expanded tome is packed with decades worth of his catholic (note: small "c") version of realism.In their pureness of representation and presentation objects presented often elide with the ideal and the abstract.See for yourself, just look at the painting of wool yarns shown on the dust cover.

One cannot help but come away with the feeling that Bravo's sense of color and compositional taste are spot on! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

a beautiful prose
One of the rare books I could read in one breath.It is short, inspiring, and imaginative.Choukri's writing is very simple, like a dessin, in a diary style.Simple, yet it tells so much about so many things, mainly about Genet and how he relates to people, what he thinks about literature.It also tells a good deal about Morocco.The translation is excellent, I think.The beauty of the language is well preserved.
One will sense the respect Choukri has for Genet, and his compassion, sensitivity and warmth toward the society.There are a few pictures of the author with Genet and his friends also, which is a treat.
A great page turner.Couldn't put it down.One of the most beautiful proses I've ever read.Now I'm looking for more books by Choukri.

Delightfully crisp prose
This book details the encounters of Choukri with Jean Genet in Tangier over a short period of time. The prose describing the encounters and the selection of details to include in the description is masterful - in a slimvolume one gains both a feeling of Morocco's bureaucrats, of the author'srespect for Genet and of Genet himself.There is no hint of "gossipcolumn" or "me with a big shot"- both of which are dangersfor this type of writing.This is book is well worth your time. ... Read more

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This is an insight into the idiosyncratic flourishes which make a house into a home. Photographer Bruce Weber takes the reader around the world, looking at how creative individuals' homes reflect their own particular personalities. Here are interiors and exteriors, panoramas and details: Siegfried and Roy's tiger-striped (and tiger-filled) Las Vegas suite; Georgia O'Keefe's ghost ranch in New Mexico; Chris Isaak's childhood home in suburban California; the Duchess of Devonshire's stately home in England; Andrew Wyeth's Maine lighthouse retreat; and Weber's own Montana ranch, among others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

B. Weber revolutionized the meaning of poor images into arts
As with most of Bruce Weber's books, his style is the same from the beginning and had not changed a bit. Though I admire many of his good works (and in fact had purchased a lot of his expensive books), a good 70% of images in his books were the same type of images we discard at photo school developing labs and the same type of images our instructors at Photo 1 asked us to improve. Reasons: out of focus, bad composition, low quality grainy and muddy images. Well, it's the name that sells, you know. It takes a lot to be Bruce Weber. Honestly, his works for Abercrombie and Fitch were much better than the books. If I were to make a name like my idol, my works will sell, as well. And I am not kidding.

Good book by Weber but pricey
As a photographer who really looks up to and loves the work of Bruce Weber, I know I have a strong bias for anything he does. However, this book is a great look inside Weber's world and is godo with the interviews as well.My only problem is the price, ... there are probably better books for those that really get into Weber photography and are looking tomaybe buy just one book, such as the out of print Chop Suey Club, etc.,that even cover his work with Abercrombie and Fitch, and are cheaper at thesame time.I would only recommend this book for someone who wants to knowmore than your basics about what Weber is about, and price is not an issue,otherwise go for it! ... Read more