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Paul Bowles

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Author

The Resume

    (December 30, 1910-November 18, 1999)
    Born in Queens, New York
    Novelist/poet/composer
    Lived in Tangier, Morocco (1947-99)
    Wrote 'The Sheltering Sky' (1949), 'The Delicate Prey and Other Stories' (1950), 'Let It Come Down' (1952), 'The Spider's House' (1955), 'Up Above the World' (1966), 'Collected Stories 1939-1976' (1979) and 'Next To Nothing: Collected Poems, 1926-77' (1981)
    Co-founder of the literary magazine Antaeus (1970)
    Married to fellow writer Jane Bowles

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped out of college and sailed off to Paris without telling his family.
    He and Jane repeatedly cheated on each other, usually with members of the same sex.
    One of his favorite practical jokes was to secretly slip cannabis jam into his friends' food and then watch them freak out.
    For years he tried to minimize outside contact by not having a phone.
    Asked by an interview to describe his social life, he replied, 'I don't know what a social life is... My social life is restricted to those who serve me and give me meals, and those who want to interview me.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    When he was an infant, his father allegedly tried to kill him by leaving him exposed on a balcony during a snowstorm.
    His first poem was published at age 17.
    He won a Drama Critics Award for his translation of Jean-Paul Sartre's 'No Exit.' (1943)
    In addition to composing his own music, he recorded over sixty hours of traditional Moroccan music for the Library of Congress.
    Gore Vidal called his short stories 'among the best ever written by an American.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 15 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 27 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 17 Votes: 70.59% Annoying