Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia
before making various trips to Paris in the 1930s. He studied music with Aaron Copland
, and in New York wrote music for various theatrical productions, as well as other compositions.
I think we all really thrive on hostility, because it's the most intense kind of massage the ego can undergo.
A novel about an American couple travelling in North Africa. It was made into a film in 1990 directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.
Many days later another caravan was passing and a man saw something on top of the highest dune there. And when they went up to see, they found Outka, Mimouna and Aicha; they were still there, lying the same way as when they had gone to sleep. And all three of the glasses... were full of sand. That was how they had their tea in the Sahara.
For in order to avoid having to deal with relative values, he had long since come to deny all purpose to the phenomenon of existence – it was more expedient and comforting.
A black star appears, a point of darkness in the night sky's clarity. Point of darkness and gateway to repose. Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.
Africa was a big place and would offer its own suggestions
For God's sake, sit down. You look like a Calvinist rector telling his flock about Hell.
"We're all monsters," said Daisy with enthusiasm. "It's the Age of Monsters."
Dr Slade went in to lunch in a state of desperate boredom tempered with resentment; it had shaken him a little to see how bad luck could be prolonged to such unlikely lengths.