Paul Bowles Papers

Special Collections Department Paul Bowles Papers 1960 - 1985 Manuscript Collection Number: 163 Extent: 2.3 linear ft. Content: Correspondence and literary manuscript Access: The collection is open for research. Processed: Tim Murray and revised by Anita Wellner, August 1995 for reference assistance email Special Collections or contact: Special Collections, University of Delaware Library Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 (302) 831-2229 Table of Contents Biographical Note Scope and Contents Note Series Outline Contents List Biographical Note The American composer and author Paul Frederic Bowles was born in New York City on December 30, 1910. Bowles was published at age seventeen, abandoned college, and in 1929 began his life of travels with a trip to Paris, where he hoped to establish himself as a poet. Back in New York in 1930, he studied composition with Aaron Copland, whom he also accompanied to Yaddo, Paris, Berlin, and Tangier. With the support of Copland and Virgil Thomson, Bowles found work in New York writing incidental music and scores for ballet and theater. His successful career as a composer took off in the Depression with work for the Federal Theater Project (including music for Orson Welles's Horse Eats Hat) and the Federal Music Project. Bowles became one of the preeminent composers of American theater music, producing works for William Saroyan, Tennessee Williams, and others. In the last decade, a resurgence of interest in Bowles's music has culminated in a number of major concerts and performances in the United States and Europe. In addition, a new generation of musicians has released several well-received recordings of Bowles's compositions. In 1938, Paul Bowles married the aspiring writer Jane Auer, who shortly achieved critical acclaim for her first novel, Two Serious Ladies (1943). Inspired by Jane Bowles's success and her dedication to writing, Bowles began his own career as an author, eventually surpassing his already successful reputation as a composer. Since the 1940s, he has produced numerous works of fiction, essays, travel writing, poems, autobiographical pieces, and other works. Among Bowles's best-known fictional works are the novels The Sheltering Sky (1949), Let It Come Down (1952), The Spider's House (1955); and an early short story collection, The Delicate Prey and Other Stories (1950). A 1989 reprint of The Sheltering Sky and Bernardo Bertolucci's 1990 film version of the novel, starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich, revived international interest in Bowles, the writer. Bowles is equally known as a prolific translator. He bestowed the title "No Exit" upon Jean-Paul Sartre's Huis Clos and his 1946 translation of that play remains the standard version for English language productions. During the 1940s, Bowles translated the poems and stories of a wide variety of European and Latin American authors. Bowles taped and transcribed from the Moghrebi tales by Mohammed Mrabet and several other Moroccan story tellers; and his translations have broadened readership of Guatemalan author Rodrigo Rey Rosa. Bowles has translated several works related to North African culture and geography, and has generously introduced and prefaced photographic collections, travel writing, and stories by other authors who share those interests. Paul and Jane Bowles spent much of their married life traveling throughout the world and in the late 1940s made Tangier, Morocco, their permanent home. Major figures in the world of letters and the arts and international "society" frequently visited them there. Jane Bowles died in 1973, and Bowles continued to reside in Tangier until his death on November 18, 1999. Sources: Miller, Jeffrey. Paul Bowles: A Descriptive Bibliography. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Black Sparrow Press, 1986. Sawyer-Laucanno, Christopher. An Invisible Spectator: A Biography of Paul Bowles. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989. Scope and Content Note The Paul Bowles Papers consist of his correspondence with authors, publishers, other literary figures, and friends; also included are a group of Bowles's literary manuscripts. Series Outline I. Correspondence 1. General correspondence 2. Miscellaneous correspondence. 3. Publishing correspondence. 4 . Letters to Jane Bowles from Paul Bowles II. Manuscripts Contents List Box -- Folder -- Contents Series I. Correspondence, 1955-1985 General correspondence Consists of incoming correspondence from authors and other individuals of note. The series is arranged alphabetically by author and chronologically within each file. All letters are addressed to Paul Bowles unless indicated otherwise. 1 Burroughs, William S., 1914- F1 1971 Oct 26 ACS 1p 1972 Apr 28 TLS 1p 1974 Apr 13 TLS 1p Dec 23 ACS 1p 1975 Feb 15 TLS 1p Nov 8 TLS 1p Dec 16 ACS 1p F2 [1976 Mar 29] TC 1p 1976 Dec 24 TLS 1p 1977 Dec 23 ACS 1p 1978 Mar 6 TLS 1p May 13 TLS 1p 1979 Feb 26 TLS 1p F3 1979 Jun 4 TLS 1p Jun 26 ACS 1p Nov 16 TLS 1p Dec 11 ACS 1p 1984 Jul 10 ACS 1p [1984 Dec 20] ACS 1p [n.d.] ACS 1p Chester, Alfred, 1928-1971. F4 1963 Jan 31 TLS 1p [1963 Mar 19] TLS 2p [1963 Apr 2] TLS 2p [1963 Apr 8] ALS 1p [1963 May 17] TLS 2p [1963 May 25] TLS 1p [1963 Jun 6] TLS 1p [1963 Jun 9] TLS 1p [1966 Feb 8] ALS 1p [1966 Mar 1] ALS 2p [1966 Mar 5] ALS 1p 1966 Jun 26 TLS 1p F5 1967 Sep 8 ALS 1p [1968 Feb 5] ALS 1p 1968 Jun 5 ALS 1p Jul 19 ALS 1p Nov 3 ALS 1p Aug 20 ALS 2p 1969 Nov 25 ALS 2p F6 1970 May 15 ALS 2p Jun 5 TLS 2p [1963] May 17 ALS 1p [n.y.] Aug 14 TLS 1p [n.d.] ALS 1p To Qaezzani, Mohamed Themi 1968 Jun 12 ALS 1p Girodias, Maurice To Alfred Chester 1963 Dec 5 TLS 1p Dec 18 ALS 2p Ferlinghetti, Lawrence F7 1968 May 25 ALS 1p Nov 11 ALS 1p Note: On the verso of a City Lights brochure. 1969 Jan 20 TLS 1p Jan 28 ALS 3p F8 1969 Apr 1 TLS 1p Apr 14 TLS 1p May 2 TLS 1p May 11 TLS 1p Jun 19 TLS 1p Aug 1 TLS 1p Nov 11 TLS 1p Dec 9 TLS 1p F9 1970 Feb 12 TLS 1p 1973 Apr 12 TLS 1p Jul 7 ALS 2p Aug 2 TLS 1p Sep 12 TLS 1p Sep 25 ALS 2p Dusenbery, Gail Chiarrello To Paul Bowles 1969 Dec 17 TLS 1p Phillips, Nancy To Paul Bowles 1973 May 16 TLS 1p Ford, Charles Henri F10 1960 Jan 24 ALS 3p Note: Includes a card photograph of Andrea (Andy) Cato taken by Ford. 1961 May 14 ALS 2p 1962 Aug 15 ALS 2p 1963 Aug 18 ALS 2p 1965 Sep 17 ACS 1p 1966 Jul 28 ACS 1p Oct 28 ALS 1p Note: Written on the verso of an announcement for Ford's "Spare Parts." Dec 12 ACS 1p Note: Written on verso of an announcement for a Ford exhibition. F11 1967 Jan 11 ACS 1p Apr 17 ACS 1p 1969 Feb 2 ACS 3p Feb 9 ACS 1p Feb 19 ACS 1p Mar 15 ALS 1p Apr 16 ALS 1p Nov 15 ALS 3p F12 1970 Feb 2 ALS 1p [Mar 3] ALS 2p May 4 ACS 1p Jun 5 ALS 1p Dec 16 ALS 1p 1971 Jan 3 ACS 1p 1972 Apr 11 ALS 1p Note: Includes an announcement for Ford's "Flag of Ecstasy." F13 1972 May 17 ALS 1p Sep 24 ALS 1p Dec 24 ALS 2p 1973 Feb 7 ALS 2p Feb 13 ACS 1p Mar 28 ALS 2p Apr 24 ALS 1p May 23 ACS 1p May 29 ALS 2p Jun 17 ALS 2p Jul 2 TLS 1p Sep 7 ALS 2p F14 1974 Jun 3 ALS 2p Aug 10 ALS 2p Oct 26 ACS 1p 1975 Jan 2 ALS 1p Note: Written on verso of a copy of article from the Soho Weekly News titled "Ford Rides Again." Jan 22 ALS 2p Feb 3 ACS 1p May 30 ALS 2p Aug 1 TLS 1p Sep 22 ACS 1p Dec 13 ACS 1p 1976 [Jan 2] ANS 1p Note: On a calendar for Anthology Film Archives. Apr 11 ACS 1p May 15 ALS 1p Jun 18 ACS 1p Jul 25 TLS 1p F15 1976 Aug 30 ACS 1p Oct 7 ALS 2p Nov 6 ALS 2p Nov 23 ALS 2p 1977 Feb 8 ALS 2p Apr 12 TLS 1p Note: On the verso of a Village Voice article. May 24 ALS 2p Jun 6 ACS 1p Jun 28 ALS 2p Dec 17 ACS 1p 1978 Jan 19 ALS 2p Mar 6 ALS 2p Jun 1 ACS 1p Aug 31 ALS 1p Sep 4 ACS 1p Oct 5 ALS 2p Dec 16 TCS 1p 1979 Apr 10 TLS 1p Jul [28] ACS 1p Aug 21 ACS 1p Oct 29 ALS 2p F16 1980 Apr 10 TLS 1p May 29 ALS 2p Jul 7 ACS 1p Oct 27 ALS 1p Note: Written on the verso of a photocopy of the poem "Igloos of the Eskimos." 1981 Feb 5 ACS 1p Mar 17 ALS 2p Apr 21 ACS 1p Jul 3 ACS 1p Sep 18 ACS 1p F17 1981 Oct 30 ACS 1p Dec 1 ACS 1p [1982 Mar 12] TCS 1p 1982 Aug 6 ACS 1p Sep 10 ALS 2p Oct 14 ALS 1p Oct 29 ALS 2p Dec 18 ALS 1p Dec 31 ALS 1p F18 1983 Feb 3 ALS 1p Mar 7 ALS 2p Apr 17 ACS 1p Note: Written on the verso on an Alternative Press poem card by Ford. Jun 28 ACS 1p Aug 22 ACS 1p Oct 1 ACS 1p 1984 Jan 10 ACS 1p F19 1984 Apr 9 ACS 1p May 11 ACS 1p [May 12] ACS 1p Jun 3 ALS 2p Jun 27 TLS 1p Jul 19 ALS 2p Dec 19 ANS 1p 1985 Jan 23 ALS 1p Note: On the verso is a photocopy image and a brief note from Ford.

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