“Resuscitation, re-creation, recreation: Karren Alenier’s The Anima of Paul Bowles makes a lyrical dive into the historical corpus of two major 20th-century writer/artists, Paul and Jane Bowles. […] the book serves as a fascinating alternative narrative of the modernist era. Alenier deftly balances between various modes—informative, brash, musical— throughout the book, all while creating a narrative that is deeply felt and rooted in a wonder at the complexities of human relationships: ‘I loved her?’ Paul finally asks of his life with Jane. Question mark, indeed.”

—Amy King, author of I WANT TO MAKE YOU SAFE

“Many have tried to explain the gravitational pull that kept Paul Bowles and his wife Jane Auer in their peculiar orbit. How did that work? Karren Alenier reminds us that all love is as truly incomprehensible as it is powerful. She inhabits these astonishing talents, and makes of their lives a sparkling abstract galaxy of words.”

—Richard Peabody, editor, GARGOYLE MAGAZINE

In appreciation for On a Bed of Gardenias:
“… illuminates the world of Paul and Jane Bowles, reaching behind the biographies and fictions for a truth […] Alenier has clearly immersed herself in the Paul and Jane legend and lovingly transmuted and deepened it in a language of her own.”

—Regina Weinreich, co-director of PAUL BOWLES: THE COMPLETE OUTSIDER

“As someone who spent time with Paul Bowles and has read all of his and Jane Bowles’ work, I am impressed with Alenier’s ability to transform biography into finely wrought lyric poems of varying styles and textures. […] we enter the complex relationship of this dueling and devoted dyad whose creative coupling defies logic and defines need.”

—Brandel France de Bravo, author of PROVENANCE

• Tweet