Pages From Cold Point and Other Stories

by Paul Bowles

Pages From Cold Point is a milestone volume of stories by one of the most distinguished writers in contemporary literature. Their setting is North Africa, the author's adoptive home, a sanguine, enigmatic environment where Western influences float like oil on the older, deeper waters of more primitive cultures, never truly altering or disrupting them. Against this background the author forges his diverse and powerful themes—sexual perversion, racial antagonism, drug hallucination, superstition, justice and its dark counterpart, revenge—into a series of vivid portrayals. And with each story he creates a tension that mounts irresistibly towards a violent or stunningly incisive climax.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Horror

156 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 1968

About the author

Paul Frederic Bowles grew up in New York, and attended college at the University of Virginia before traveling to Paris, where became a part of Gertrude Stein's literary and artistic circle. Following her advice, he took his first trip to Tangiers in 1931 with his friend, composer Aaron Copeland.

In 1938 he married author and playwright Jane Auer (see: Jane Bowles). He moved to Tangiers permanently in 1947, with Auer following him there in 1948. There they became fixtures of the American and European expatriate scene, their visitors including Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal. Bowles continued to live in Tangiers after the death of his wife in 1973.

Bowles died of heart failure in Tangier on November 18, 1999. His ashes were interred near the graves of his parents and grandparents in Lakemont, New York.

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

it really is phenomenally written and it takes awhile to sink in but it’s worth taking the time to read it carefully. i’m still confused about some of the stories but that’s probably my fault. overall, the collection of stories is dark and chilling (especially the first one) and completely worth the read!

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am rather ashamed to admit that this is the first collection of Bowles work that I have read - I have read the eponymous story many times, it made regular appearances in every early anthology of 'gay' literature (I had read and heard a great deal about him and all the others in the good old days of Tangiers and boy, boys, boys to be had for the asking without restraint, good taste, or guilt at exploiting a very, poor population) I had never found time to read him, I haven't even seen the film of 'The Sheltering Sky'. I can only explain it by saying you can't read everything, you always have to make choices.

Well I am glad that my love of the story 'Pages from Cold Point' finally lead me to this collection - it is startlingly brilliant - I am astounded that I am about to post only the fifth review against this collection on Goodreads. Has Bowles really fallen so far off the radar of what worth reading? 'Pages from Cold Point' and 'The Delicate Prey' are possibly two of the most disturbing but brilliant stories I have ever read. I am loath to speak of specifics because many do not know these works and I would hate to spoil the pleasure of discovering what subtle depths Bowles can conjure up with his prose.

Menace, threat, foreboding as well as horror in terms of challenging and undermining everything you might want to believe or think is apparent in many of these stories but also a sense of the alien - and it is that confluence of the known and unknown that makes 'Pages from Cold Point' a perfect fit with all the other stories in this collection all of which are set in North Africa.

To avoid disappointment or misunderstandings let me make clear that non of the stories set in North Africa can in anyway be judged 'gay' one story has male rape and even 'Pages Fromm Cold Point' was only 'gay' when 'gay' meant nothing but sex between people who both had penises. Today I think gay has a more varied and complex meaning and many younger gays might find nothing in the famous title story that is the least bit gay.

can assure you that Paul Bowles has rushed right up my TBR list and I am looking forward to reading more of his stories at the very least.

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

hot weather book

[Magneticmile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, unflinching, beautifully written. These stories, for better or for worse, will stay with you for a long time. Especially the first and namesake; it took a while for it to click what I'd just read, when the implications dawned on me I felt queasy to say the least. I've yet to read more of Bowles stuff, but now I definitely intend to. This is a writer with not only talent, but some serious balls.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fabulous travelogues from a master of the art.