You Are Not I: A Portrait of Paul Bowles by Millicent Dillon (English) Paperback

Description: You Are Not I by Millicent Dillon A biography of Paul Bowles, the famously enigmatic writer-composer. It questions the biographers role, the subjects credibility, and the very nature of truth in the telling of a life. It talks of Bowles difficult childhood and of his grief over his wifes - the author Jane Bowles, who died in 1973 - illness, of exile, dreams, and madness. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description The famously enigmatic writer-composer Paul Bowles is the subject of Millicent Dillons unforgettable new book. Her portrait of the chameleonlike artist is much more than an account of Bowless life, however. It is also a meditation on biography that questions the biographers role, the subjects 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 Bowless 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 Janes long illness, of exile, dreams, and madness. He is charming and evasive with Dillon, generous and devious. As the book unfolds, Dillons own reflections and concerns surface alongside details of Bowless 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. Flap "Less a biography than a meditation on the curious nature of biography and on the even more curious nature of Paul Bowles. Brilliantly done, and intensely interesting."--Alice Adams "[I love the Paul Bowles biography.] A seriously innovative biography about a fascinating literary figure, an exotic locale, the haunting ghost of Jane Bowles, and an endearing and important biographer. Any of these ingredients would be enough to recommend it; altogether, a brilliant book."--Diane Johnson "I am impressed by the honesty, lucidity, and maturity in every sentence. This stunning pas de deux by two wary, relentlessly intelligent people is a delicious reading experience."--Phillip Lopate, author of Portrait of my Body and Art of the Personal Essay "Millicent Dillon brilliantly manages to turn her difficulties with the notorious elusiveness of Paul Bowles, and of Tangiers, into the most revealing account ever given of his personality and his achievements. Its a fascinating, exhilirating book."--Richard Poirier Author Biography Millicent Dillons published works include fiction and nonfiction as well as numerous short stories. She is the editor of The Portable Paul and Jane Bowles (1994), Out in the World: Selected Letters of Jane Bowles, 1935-1970 (1990), and A Little Original Sin. Millicent Dillon lives in San Francisco. Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part One Part Two Part Three Afterimages Works Cited Review "Dillons prose is spare and supple, and her offbeat approach to her portrait works like a charm . . . The service Dillon has done Bowles and his admirers is rare and welcome. Where previously weve had only freeze-frame shots of him, its now as if we can see him in action . . . A pleasure to read in itself, "You Are Not I undoubtedly will become a treasured primary source for future Bowles biographers."--"Washington Post Book World Kirkus US Review This jumbled but ever readable account of the expatriate composer and author is not so much a biography as a meditation on the biographical process and its pitfalls. Anticipating the death of Paul Bowles, the last of the Tangiers giants, a full-scale literary industry is beginning to gear up. Bowles himself has never been a particularly prolific author, but each work of fiction, from The Sheltering Sky to the shortest of his short stories, arrived with a resounding fullness to it. A world so complete, so considered, that each work feels like a lifes oeuvre. Theres an elusive archetypal quality to his work that seems to mediate between the noumenal and phenomenal, as if these classic philosophic distinctions were almost resolvable. Like his work, Bowles seems to be just beyond full understanding, a passive acquiescent personality who cant say no, but is very good at avoiding anything uncomfortable. He is particularly elusive when Dillon (who edited The Portable Paul and Jane Bowles as well as a volume of Jane Bowless letters) attempts to tease out the deeply autobiographical elements of his work: "Hadnt he always been in the process of escaping? Escaping into another room, escaping across borders into another country, escaping into regions within himself, escaping into others, escaping into his characters, even as they too are escaping." Dillon here has thrown over the traditional biographical method in favor of a free-form approach, part interview, part reminiscence, part autobiography. Based largely on hundreds of hours spent with Bowles, its a fascinating mix that doesnt quite gel, although there are flashes of real insight. The autobiographical elements are overplayed, although such elements as the arrival of a second, rival biographer and Dillons sense that she is trapped in a Bowles novel are so intriguing, one excuses their irrelevance. (Kirkus Reviews) Long Description The famously enigmatic writer-composer Paul Bowles is the subject of Millicent Dillons unforgettable new book. Her portrait of the chameleonlike artist is much more than an account of Bowless life, however. It is also a meditation on biography that questions the biographers role, the subjects 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 Bowless 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 Janes long illness, of exile, dreams, and madness. He is charming and evasive with Dillon, generous and devious. As the book unfolds, Dillons own reflections and concerns surface alongside details of Bowless 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 bestsellerThe Sheltering Skyand 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. Details ISBN0520224930 Author Millicent Dillon Short Title YOU ARE NOT I Publisher University of California Press Language English ISBN-10 0520224930 ISBN-13 9780520224933 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2000 Imprint University of California Press Subtitle A Portrait of Paul Bowles Country of Publication United States Birth 1925 Place of Publication Berkerley Residence San Francisco, CA, US DOI 10.1604/9780520224933 UK Release Date 2000-03-08 AU Release Date 2000-03-08 NZ Release Date 2000-03-08 US Release Date 2000-03-08 Pages 354 Publication Date 2000-03-08 DEWEY 813.54 Illustrations 15 b-w photographs Audience Professional & Vocational We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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