Paul Bowles met Gertrude Stein in 1931 and became one of her most distinguished protégés. She directed him toward prose description and to Tangier, where he has lived for twenty-five years. There is no doubt that the exotic, mysterious Morocco has exerted an influence on Bowles, who has earned a distinguished reputation for compelling works of fiction revealing a profound understanding of the Moslem world.

Stewart's book on Bowles, the first on this subject, derives extensively from un­published letters of Gertrude Stein and others, from interviews with Bowles, and from the novelist's unpublished notebook material.