The Dream At The End Of The World: Paul Bowles And The Literary Renegades In Tangier By Michelle Green

This was a fascinating read of the eccentric artistic expats who made Tangier their home throughout the twentieth century. The artists and writers Paul and Jane Bowles were the center of the community, and their presence in Tangier brought many notable figures the Moroccan city: Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, William Burroughs, Bryon Gysin, and Allen Ginsburg all visited with the couple. In addition, the well-researched book provided an understanding of the years in which Morocco went from being a territory controlled by the French and Spanish to an autonomous country. 9780747505242 In the dedication the author quotes Truman Capote in 1950,
Before coming here (Tangier) you should do three things: be inoculated for typhoid, withdraw your savings from the bank, say good-bye to your friends-heaven knows you may never see them again...Because Tangier is a basin that hold you.
This isn't so much a biography as it is a snapshot of the life of Paul Bowles, his wife Jane and a myriad cast of characters including Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Barbara Hutton....the rich, the famous, the artistic, the tormented. Bowles saw himself as an existentialist and chose to live where there were very few rules..homosexuality, pedophilia, drug use, eccentricity, were all accepted in Tangier. Experimentation with all of the above fueled the writings of all who came, for better or worse.
9780747505242 Paul Bowles may not be compelling enough by himself to bother reading a full biography of him (though several exist), so best to get your dose in this more general book, which covers his wife Jane in almost as much detail as Paul and gives appropriate time to the other characters in the Tangier constellation.

And quite a constellation it was - drug pioneers, boy-lovers, fraudsters, cock-hungry exile countesses, on and on. Of course the party started going downhill as soon as Tangier became an un-independent part of Morocco in the late 1950s - Muslims taking charge always throws a wet blanket on things.

Plenty of good William Burroughs anecdotes (something I always enjoy).

Bowles's rationalization for living in Morocco in the early 1960s sounds just like what I say about Seattle: The only way to live in Morocco now is to remember constantly that the world outside is still more repulsive.

I've read The Sheltering Sky but alas Bowles seemed to suffer from Woody Allen disease - making the same thing over and over - so I doubt I'll read any more of his stuff. 9780747505242 I was more interested in reading about post-war Morocco than reading about the shenanigans of relatively rich western writers (who lived to create drama both on the page and off.) This paints a vivid portrait of the International Zone from the late 1940s through the early 70s, but I skimmed when the narrative focused on gossip and scandal. The relationships are interesting, such as the Bowles marriage and Jane's destructive decades-long romance with a manipulative Moroccan woman, but the brief encounters and anecdotes don't add anything. 9780747505242 Morrocco, Truman Capote, Opium, expatriates, sexual liberation... These are the things that make my heart sing. “Before coming here (Tangier) you should do three things: be inoculated for typhoid, withdraw your savings from the bank, say good-bye to your friends-heaven knows you may never see them again... Because Tangier is a basin that holds you. 9780747505242

A senior writer for People magazine offers a remarkable group portrait of incredible figures who congregated during the 1950s and '60s in Tangiers. In this mesmerizing account, Green explores decadent Tangiers as the source of inspiration and madness for such remarkable writers as Truman Capote, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, and Tennessee Williams, and explains its hold as a deliciously depraved version of Eden. 16-page photo insert. The Dream At The End Of The World: Paul Bowles And The Literary Renegades In Tangier

This is a great biography of the Tangier International Zone set of writers, which included Paul and Jane Bowles, William S. Burroughs, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and others.

9780747505242 An exotic locale and even more exotic personalities give this book the foundation to entertain. It piqued my curiosity to read more writings from the literary renegades from that time period: Ginsberg, Kerouac and Bowles, too, to name a few. Green did an outstanding job in making the book read like a juicy gossip column. 9780747505242 This book made sodomy sound boring. 9780747505242

characters The Dream At The End Of The World: Paul Bowles And The Literary Renegades In Tangier