Submitted by Rosanne Klass, May 6, 2008 03:54

Paul Bowles a "great American novelist" and "great composer?" Hardly. A trendy, rather shallow, exotic avant gardist of the 1940s and 1950s, yes -- back in those days one could hardly claim to be with it unless one had plowed through "The Sheltering Sky" and considered moving to North Africa to replicate the Bowleses life of exotic expatriation, drugs, homosexuality, and aloofness from almost everyone and everything but their personal circle. But who ever wanted to listen to his music? Who ever read his writings for any reason but chic? And how many want to listen to or read his work now?

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