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Article: Paul Bowles.(author)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- November 27, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Paul Bowles, "the only American existentialist", died on November 18th, aged 88
WHEN he was six weeks old, Paul Bowles was undressed by his father and placed naked in a wicker cot on the third-storey windowsill of a brownstone in Queens during a snowstorm. Only the intervention of his maternal grandmother, who heard his cries of distress and rushed to the rescue, saved "the only American existentialist" from certain death in babyhood.
This may or may not have actually happened. Young Paul so hated his father Claude, a New York dentist whose "mere presence meant misery", that he was prepared to believe him capable of anything, even attempted infanticide. ...