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Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno papers related to Paul Bowles

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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Writer and educator Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno was born January 4, 1951, in San Mateo, California. After attending Southwestern College, Chula Vista, California, from 1968 to 1970, he received a B.A. degree from the University of California in 1971. Later he received both M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1983) degrees from Brandeis University.

Sawyer-Lauçanno's professional career has included performing field research for Human Factors, Inc. (1973–1974), teaching foreign languages at Brandeis University (1974–1977), and teaching English as a second language at Dean Junior College (1977–1980) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1982– ). He also was a staff writer for Time-Life Educational Systems Co. in Tokyo, Japan (1980–1982), as well as a free-lance technical translator.

Best known for his biography of

Paul Bowles, An Invisible Spectator (1990), Sawyer-Lauçanno has also written numerous texts on learning or teaching the English language. His translations include the work of Federico Garcia Lorca and Chilam Balam, as well as his most recent publication, Rafael Alberti's Concerning the Angels (1995). He has also written The Continual Pilgrimage: American Writers in Paris, 1945-1950 (1992) and contributed poetry, articles, and translations to a wide variety of periodicals, including Nexus, American Poetry Review, and Translation.

The American composer and author Paul Frederic Bowles was born in New York City on December 30, 1910. Bowles was published at age seventeen, abandoned college, and in 1929 began his life of travels with a trip to Paris, where he hoped to establish himself as a poet. Back in New York in 1930, he studied composition with Aaron Copland, whom he also accompanied to Yaddo, Paris, Berlin, and Tangier. With the support of Copland and Virgil Thomson, Bowles found work in New York writing incidental music and scores for ballet and theater. His successful career as a composer took off in the Depression with work for the Federal Theater Project (including music for Orson Welles's

Horse Eats Hat) and the Federal Music Project. Bowles became one of the preeminent composers of American theater music, producing works for William Saroyan, Tennessee Williams, and others. In the last decade, a resurgence of interest in Bowles's music has culminated in a number of major concerts and performances in the United States and Europe. In addition, a new generation of musicians has released several well-received recordings of Bowles's compositions.

In 1938, Paul Bowles married the aspiring writer Jane Auer, who shortly achieved critical acclaim for her first novel,

Two Serious Ladies (1943). Inspired by Jane Bowles's success and her dedication to writing, Bowles began his own career as an author, eventually surpassing his already successful reputation as a composer. Since the 1940s, he has produced numerous works of fiction, essays, travel writing, poems, autobiographical pieces, and other works. Among Bowles's best-known fictional works are the novels The Sheltering Sky (1949), Let It Come Down (1952), The Spider's House (1955); and an early short story collection, The Delicate Prey and Other Stories (1950). A 1989 reprint of The Sheltering Sky and Bernardo Bertolucci's 1990 film version of the novel, starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich, revived international interest in Bowles, the writer.

Bowles is equally known as a prolific translator. He bestowed the title "No Exit" upon Jean-Paul Sartre's

Huis Clos and his 1946 translation of that play remains the standard version for English language productions. During the 1940s, Bowles translated the poems and stories of a wide variety of European and Latin American authors. Bowles taped and transcribed from the Moghrebi tales by Mohammed Mrabet and several other Moroccan story tellers; and his translations have broadened readership of Guatemalan author Rodrigo Rey Rosa. Bowles has translated several works related to North African culture and geography, and has generously introduced and prefaced photographic collections, travel writing, and stories by other authors who share those interests.

Paul and Jane Bowles spent much of their married life traveling throughout the world and in the late 1940s made Tangier, Morocco, their permanent home. Major figures in the world of letters and the arts and international "society" frequently visited them there. Jane Bowles died in 1973, and Bowles continued to reside in Tangier until his death on November 18, 1999.

Miller, Jeffrey. Paul Bowles: A Descriptive Bibliography. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Black Sparrow Press, 1986. Sawyer-Laucanno, Christopher. An Invisible Spectator: A Biography of Paul Bowles. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989.

The Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno Papers Related to Paul Bowles, spanning the dates 1946-1989 (bulk 1985-1989), consist of 2.3 linear feet of research material gathered by Sawyer-Lauçanno for his biography of

Paul Bowles, An Invisible Spectator. The papers include Sawyer-Lauçanno's correspondence with Paul Bowles, his editor, and friends of Paul Bowles.

In his letters to Sawyer-Lauçanno, Paul Bowles discussed his lack of enthusiasm for

An Invisible Spectator, as well as mentioned his travels and daily activities.

Also present in the papers are letters from some of Bowles's friends written to Sawyer-Lauçanno. There are letters from Bruce Morrissette, Buffie Johnson, Virgil Thomson, Gore Vidal, Edward Field, Edouard Roditi, and Ned Rorem. Many of the senders are commenting on their relationship to Paul Bowles and/or on the life or writing of Paul Bowles.

Additionally, the papers include photographs of Bowles and others; audio cassette tapes of interviews with Bowles and his friends; transcripts and research notes; material related to the "Festival Manca," which featured music composed by Bowles; as well as contracts, drafts, and page proofs related to

An Invisible Spectator.

An inscribed copy of sheet music for "Letter to Freddy," for which Bowles composed the music and Gertrude Stein wrote the words, is also part of the collection.

Bound page proofs and copies of the editions published by Bloomsbury and Weidenfeld & Nicolson have been removed and cataloged for the printed collection of Special Collections.

  1. Boxes 1-7: Shelved in SPEC MSS manuscript boxes

Purchase, October 1989.

Processed by Anita A. Wellner, 1991. Encoded by Thomas Pulhamus, March 2010. Further encoding by Lauren Connolly, November 2015.

Publisher
University of Delaware Library Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Finding Aid Date
2010 March 3
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Collection Inventory

Typed Letter Signed, 1985 April 26.
Box 1 Folder F1
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1985 June 6.
Box 1 Folder F1
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 February 3.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 March 1.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 March 30.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Autograph Letter Signed, 1986 June 20.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Note Signed, 1986 June 20.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 August 2.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 December 19.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1987 April 13.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1987 July 3.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 January 15.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 January 30.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 February 29.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed , 1988 April 12.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 April 25 .
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Autograph Letter Signed, 1988 May 10.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 June 2.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 August 4.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed , 1988 October 11.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 December 13.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1989 June 1.
Box 1 Folder F2
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1985 April 15.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed Photocopy, 1985 May 16.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed Photocopy, 1985 May 18.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1986 January 22.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed Photocopy, 1986 February 13.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Signed Photocopy, 1986 March 17.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1986 July 21.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed Photocopy, 1986 August 20.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed Photocopy, 1986 December 8 .
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1987 March 22 .
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1987 June 16.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1987 June 20.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1987 December 9.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1988 February 8.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

3 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1988 February 16.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1988 March 21.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1988 April 12.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1988 May 3.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Photocpy, 1988 May 26.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1988 July 12.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1989 June 13.
Box 1 Folder F3
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 February 28.
Box 1 Folder F4
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed Photocopy, 1986 January 23.
Box 1 Folder F5
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Photocopy, 1988 July 4.
Box 1 Folder F5
Scope and Contents

Includes list (2p).

Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 January 20.
Box 1 Folder F5
Physical Description

2 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 February 3.
Box 1 Folder F5
Scope and Contents

Includes copies of a reader's report and a letter from Liz Calder

Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 February 4.
Box 1 Folder F5
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 February 27.
Box 1 Folder F5
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1987 May 19.
Box 1 Folder F5
Physical Description

3 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1987 June 6.
Box 1 Folder F5
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 June 30.
Box 1 Folder F5
Scope and Contents

Note: Includes copies of a reader's report and a letter from Liz Calder(Bloomsbury) to Polizzotti.

Physical Description

1 p

List of Captions, 1988 November 1.
Box 1 Folder F5
Physical Description

3 p

Typescript Photocopy., 1987 January [29].
Box 1 Folder F6
Scope and Contents

Bears autograph note.

Physical Description

4p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 November 1.
Box 1 Folder F7
Physical Description

1p

Autograph Card Signed, 1989 May 9.
Box 1 Folder F7
Physical Description

1 p

Autograph Letter Signed, 1989 July 11.
Box 1 Folder F7
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, [1987 November 28].
Box 1 Folder F8
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1989 June 10.
Box 1 Folder F9
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 January 28.
Box 1 Folder F10
Physical Description

1p

Autograph Letter Signed, 1989 May 16.
Box 1 Folder F10
Physical Description

1 p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 Jan 30.
Box 1 Folder F11
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 January 27.
Box 1 Folder F12
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 September 29.
Box 1 Folder F12
Physical Description

1 p

Autograph Letter Signed, [1986 March 10].
Box 1 Folder F13
Physical Description

2p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 November 2.
Box 1 Folder F14
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 November 19.
Box 1 Folder F14
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1989 February 17.
Box 1 Folder F14
Physical Description

1p

Typescript Photocopy, 1989 March.
Box 1 Folder F14
Scope and Contents

Alfred Chester Newsletter #2.

Physical Description

1p.

Type Letter Signed, 1989 June 1.
Box 1 Folder F14
Physical Description

1p.

Autograph Letter Signed, 1989 August 21.
Box 1 Folder F14
Physical Description

1p.

Autograph Note Signed, 1989 August 29.
Box 1 Folder F14
Physical Description

1p.

Autograph Note Signed, [n.d.].
Box 1 Folder F14
Physical Description

1p.

Autograph Letter Signed, [1987 May 13].
Box 1 Folder F15
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1987 May 23.
Box 1 Folder F15
Physical Description

2p

Typed Letter Signed, 1987 May [23].
Box 1 Folder F15
Scope and Contents

Enclosed with previous item.

Physical Description

1p

Autograph Letter Signed, [1987] June 9.
Box 1 Folder F15
Physical Description

2p

Autograph Letter Signed, 1987 October 26.
Box 1 Folder F15
Physical Description

2p

Autograph Letter Signed, 1987 November 30.
Box 1 Folder F15
Physical Description

1p.

Autograph Letter, [1987?].
Box 1 Folder F15
Scope and Contents

Letter is incomplete.

Physical Description

1p.

Autograph Card Signed, 1984 March 27.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 February 18.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Autograph Note Signed, [1987 October 27].
Box 1 Folder F16
Scope and Contents

Written on a printed item.

Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 January 24.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 October 24.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

2p

Typed Letter Signed, 1988 November 2.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Autograph Card Signed, 1988 November 20.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Autograph Card Signed, 1988 December 3.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Autograph Card Signed, 1989 July 29.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1989 Aug 27.
Box 1 Folder F16
Physical Description

1p

Typed Letter Signed, 1986 October 17.
Box 1 Folder F17
Physical Description

1p

Autograph Letter Signed, [1988] December 5.
Box 1 Folder F17
Physical Description

1p

Scope and Contents

Consists of 24 photographs.

Includes two photographs of Sawyer-Lauçanno, six photographs of artwork by Paul Bowles, one photograph of Jane Bowles, one photographs of Bowles' apartment building in Tangier, and 14 photographs of Paul Bowles (some include friends).
Box 1 Folder F18
Scope and Contents

Most of the photographs appear in

An Invisible Spectator.

Scope and Contents

Consists of audio cassette tapes and transcripts of interviews with Paul Bowles and his associates, as well as Sawyer-Lauçanno's research material. The cassette tapes are unfoldered.

Interview with Paul Bowles, 1985 July 7.
Box 2
Physical Description

2 tapes

Interview with Virgil Thomson, 1986 March 6.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 tape

Interview with Virgil Thomson, 1987 November 3.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 tape

Interview with Edouard Roditi, 1987 April 30.
Box 2
Physical Description

2 tapes

Interview with William Burroughs, 1987 April 28.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 tape

Interview with Buffie Johnson, [n.d.].
Box 2
Physical Description

1 tape

Notes taken from the Gertrude Stein-Virgil Thomson letters at Yale, [n.d.].
Box 2 Folder F19
Transcripts of interviews with Buffy Johnson, Virgil Thomson, Edouard Roditi, and Harry Dunham, [1986-1987].
Box 2 Folder F20
Quotes from Bowles' interview, [1985].
Box 2 Folder F21
Notes from Bruce Morrissette interview, [1987].
Box 2 Folder F22
Notes from Bowles' letters to Morrissette, [n.d.].
Box 2 Folder F23
Notes and computer diskette of research materials, [n.d.].
Box 2 Folder F24
Festival Manca, 1988 April.
Box 2 Folder F25
Scope and Contents

Includes correspondence, cassette tape and a program for the 1988 "Festival Manca." On April 2 the festival featured "La Musique de Paul Bowles." Includes a biographical sketch of Bowles, an audio cassette of "La Musique de Paul Bowles," correspondence among Bowles, Sawyer-Lauçanno, and Michel Redolfi (director of the festival), plus program and notes. There are three photocopies of letters from Bowles to Michel Redolfi (1988 Feb 29, May 7, Jun 1).

Scope and Contents

In his proposal, Sawyer-Lauçanno's describes the content of the book and includes the chapter entitled "Tea in Tangier." Also included here are contracts between Sawyer-Lauçanno and his publishers.

Sawyer-Lauçanno's contract with Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986 August 18.
Box 2 Folder F26
Sawyer-Lauçanno's contract with Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd., 1987 May 13.
Box 2 Folder F27
Autograph draft of chapter entitled "Tea in Tangier", [n.d.].
Box 2 Folder F28
Book proposal, [n.d.].
Box 2 Folder F29
Scope and Contents

Description of the book's content and intention, as well as a copy of "Tea in Tangier."

Autograph draft with photocopies insertions, [n.d.].
Box 3 Folder F30
Computer diskettes of a draft, [n.d.].
Box 3 Folder F31
Physical Description

6 diskettes

Photocopied typescript draft of Part I: The Invented Cosmos, [n.d.].
Box 3 Folder F32
Physical Description

Photocopied typescript removed from a box labeled "Final Draft."

Preliminary material and pages 1-129.
Box 3 Folder F33
Pages 130-283.
Box 3 Folder F34
Pages 284-432.
Box 4 Folder F35
Pages 433-587.
Box 4 Folder F36
Pages 58-722.
Box 4 Folder F37
Pages 723-859, plus bibliography, coda, notes, and author's biographical note.
Box 4 Folder F38
Scope and Contents

Photocopied typescript draft used as the setting copy, which bears autograph corrections, editor's corrections, and printer's notations. Also includes inserted pages, layout instructions and a printed list of job specifications.

Layout and job specifications.
Box 5 Folder F39
Preliminary material.
Box 5 Folder F40
Pages 3-129.
Box 5 Folder F41
Pages 130-283.
Box 5 Folder F42
Pages 284-432.
Box 5 Folder F43
Pages 433-561.
Box 5 Folder F44
Pages 562-722.
Box 6 Folder F45
Pages 723-860.
Box 6 Folder F46

Scope and Contents

Consists of copies of various page proofs for both the Bloomsbury and the Weidenfeld & Nicolson editions. Note: Bound page proofs of both editions of

An Invisible Spectator were removed and are available in the printed collections of Special Collections.
Miscellaneous pages from the author's set of page proofs, 1988 December 20.
Box 7 Folder F47
Scope and Contents

Proofs bear autograph corrections and were for the Weidenfeld & Nicolson edition.

Physical Description

77 pp.

Scope and Contents

Complete set with some autograph corrections, for the Weidenfeld & Nicolson edition.

Physical Description

508 pp.

Preliminary material and chapters 1-6.
Box 7 Folder F48
Chapters 7-14.
Box 7 Folder F49
Chapters 15-23.
Box 7 Folder F50
Chapters 24-30.
Box 7 Folder F51
Bibliography, notes, and author's biographical note.
Box 7 Folder F52

Scope and Contents

The published editions of An Invisible Spectator were removed and are available in the printed collections of Special Collections.

Sheet music for "Letter to Freddy", 1946.
Box 7 Folder F53
Scope and Contents

Words for this song were written by Gertrude Stein and music was composed by Paul Bowles. The copy is inscribed by Paul Bowles and dated January 13, 1978.

Print, Suggest