Midnight Mass

For over fifty years Paul Bowles wrote about the chasms that exist between east and west. A few commentators have suggested that his work provides a good guide for navigating the cultural divide so pronounced in today's world. His stories and novels, mostly written during the 1950s and 1960s, likely read very differently now than in the pre-911 world. Some even ring warning bells for careless culture hoppers. Despite its power, his work continues to squander in unjustified obscurity nearly a decade after his death. "Midnight Mass" collects 13 stories written after 1976. Though somewhat lacking the luster of his earlier tales, familiar themes ring out. The title story finds a western man losing his mother's house in Tangier to a prosperous Moroccan family. "The Little House," "The Empty Amulet," and "The Eye" explore the cavernous gulf between "Nazarene" and "Moslem" medicine. Many stories deal with the intriguing relationships that can develop between westerners and their hired local help, such as "The Dismissal" and "Madame and Ahmed." Misunderstandings and crossed wires abound. "In The Red Room" demonstrates how well Bowles could depict the horrific confusion that results when people wander outside of their "safe zones." Though nothing really happens in the story, the suspense never lets up. Such masterful psychological manipulation pervades Bowles' work. The book's longest story, "Here To Learn," sees a stunningly beautiful village girl, Malika, traipsed around the globe by lustfully admiring men. She gets literally swept away by one man after another, but she doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The story transports Malika from her tiny village with her unappreciative mother, to Teutan, Tangier, Madrid, Paris, Cortina, Milano, Switzerland, Los Angeles, and back again; all in a whirlwind 50 pages. It reads like a very bizarre coming of age story. As she pursues each desultory route, her past dissolves. When she finally returns to the village, she finds her roots yanked out beyond hope. Every story in "Midnight Mass," with the exception of the somewhat trite "Kitty," demonstrates the singular unique vision that Bowles injected into his work. Apart from the ubiquitous east/west theme, Bowles explores betrayal, murder, indifference, honor, the lure of greed, and devastation. An American by birth, he writes about non-western cultures with an authenticity that only a lifetime expatriate could manage. His strange obscurity remains a puzzle, though he was often referred to as a "writer's writer." Those seeking familiarity with the enigmatic Bowles should look to his novels, particularly "The Sheltering Sky", and his earlier stories rather than this collection. Though highly readable and poignant, "Midnight Mass" does not represent his best work. But those who have engulfed his other work and seek more will find much to succor here.

Paul Bowles was always a unique writer. An expatriate American who went to Morrocco and stayed. Midnight Mass is a collection of his short stories written after 1976. It is a great companion piece to his Collected Stories which gathers his stories prior to 1976. Bowles can be difficult to read because he became so emmershed in Morroccan culture it is quite, shall we say, foreign to Western readers. This is not the writing of an American. Paul Bowles became like a Morroccan in his years in Tangier. If you want to learn a little about Morroccan culture this is a good place to start. Stories like The Eye and Madame and Ahmed hit the mark. It is, overall, an outstanding collection. It is great for lovers of literature in general as well as for Morroccan neophytes.