|
The setting and the subject of this unusual volume are both
Morocco, the author’s adopted home for many decades.
Points in Time takes the reader on a journey over twenty-four
centuries, pausing at various points along the way to create
some deeply resonant and enduring images of the country and
the beliefs and characteristics of its inhabitants.
The stories range in tone from the misguided missionary endeavours
of Fra Andrea of Spoleto (impaled for being too clever) to
the tragic death of Sol Hachuel, a beautiful young Jewish
woman who marries a Moslem and is beheaded when she has second
thoughts. Elsewhere an English merchant in the eighteenth
century is sentenced by a Moroccan court to have his front
teeth pulled out, but deceives the teeth-puller by a masterpiece
of logic.
Written in eleven sections and progressing chronologically,
all settings and incidents are notable for their precision
and diversity, the total effect of which gives Points in
Time the feel of a poem sequence.
‘Points In Time seems to insert a needle into
the country’s heart and draw off its life-blood for us.’
– Colin Thubron, Sunday Telegraph
‘I recommend his [Bowles’s] 1982 book Points
in Time . . . Whether he describes a sunset or decapitation,
Bowles sustains his old coolness, the barlines neatly drawn,
the notes exactly penned. Bowles evades all categorisation.’
– Anthony Burgess
‘Few writers have Paul Bowles’s skill in
evocation while making in the familiar something new and extraordinary.’
– The Times
‘An impressive book.’ – Anthony Thwaite, Observer
PAUL BOWLES (1910 – 1999) was born in New York and came
to Europe in 1931 to study music with Aaron Copland. In 1938
he married Jane Auer, herself a gifted writer, who was to
achieve literary fame under her married name of Jane Bowles.
After the war they settled in Tangier, which became their
permanent home. Paul Bowles is the author of The Sheltering
Sky, which has since become a modern classic and which
was filmed in 1990 by Bernardo Bertolucci. His other books
include Let It Come Down, Points in Time and
The Spider’s House. |
