Please join us on 26 August 2021 for a dis cussion of Paul Bowles's short stories. Bowles\, who was a brilliant compo ser before focusing on prose\, is perhaps most famous for his novel "The S heltering Sky"\, which was filmed in 1990 by Bernardo Bertolucci and which Modern Library named as one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th centur y. But it is really his stories that have beguiled talents as various as T ruman Capote\, Norman Mailer\, Flannery O'Connor\, Tobias Wolff\, Gore Vid al\, Tennessee Williams\, Jay McInerny\, Robert Stone and Joyce Carol Oate s. About Bowles\, Mailer is quoted as saying\, "...He opened the world of Hip. He let in the murder\, the drugs\, the incest\, the death of the Squa re... the call of the orgy\, the end of civilization." And McInerny said\, "Paul Bowles's sense of what can go wrong is as acute as that of any Amer ican writer since Poe. In 'A Distant Episode'\, one of his best known stor ies\, a professor of linguistics in search of new dialects ventures beyond the walls of a desert town one night and descends into a valley settlemen t -'an abyss'- realizing as he does that 'he ought to ask himself why he w as doing this irrational thing.'" What McInerny fails to mention is that t he fate of the benighted professor is just possibly more disturbing than a nything in Poe.
\nBowles's work is marked by a unique\, delicately s pare style\, and a dark\, rich\, exotic mood\, by turns chilling\, ironic\ , and wry&mdash\;possessing a symmetry between beauty and terror that is h aunting and ultimately moral. In "Pastor Dowe at Tecaté\;\," a Prote stant missionary is sent to a faraway place where his God has no power. In "Call at Corazó\;n\," an American husband abandons his alcoholic wi fe on their honeymoon in a South American jungle. In "Allal\," a boy's dru g-induced metamorphosis into a deadly serpent leads to his violent death. Here also are some of Bowles's most famous works\, including "The Delicate Prey\," a grimly satisfying tale of vengeance\, and\, of course\, "A Dist ant Episode\," which Tennessee Williams proclaimed "a masterpiece." You wi ll not be required to read this entire collection as it is comprehensive a nd we simply wouldn't be able to talk about it all. Rather\, Lost &\; F ound's monitor\, Gregory Lowry\, will select the titles for you to read\; there will be a list accompanying each copy of the book. Of course\, don't hesitate to devour the whole thing if you are moved to but be warned: dan ger lies ahead. It is probably best to read no more than one or two a nigh t - if you care anything at all about your mental health\, that is! \; As always\, feel free to enjoy an adult beverage during the discussion! W e look forward to seeing you!
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