Paul Bowles (1910 - 1999)
Related: 1900s literature - American literature
A Distant Episode (1947) - Paul Bowles [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Publishing date is that of the title storyMovement and dark exotica are the hallmarks of any Paul Bowles story. In the title piece a linguist bums his way down on a bus to "the warm country" in what may well be Morocco, returning to a town--and a friend--he has not seen in 10 years. He learns that the friend has died and, overcome by a perverse and almost exalted carelessness, makes a curious proposition to the qaouaji who serves him tea. The strange becomes the sinister; the lonely becomes a hallucinatory horror. When the unspeakable finally comes to pass (the dogs, the guns, the evil men), it's a relief. -- http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/paul-bowles/distant-episode.htm [Sept 2006]
Biography
Paul Frederic Bowles (December 30, 1910 - November 18, 1999), was an American composer, author, and traveler. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bowles [Aug 2006]
More on his translations here.