San Miguel Historical Cemetery
JANE BOWLES
From a very young age, Jane Auer, a Jewish New Yorker, showed an avid passion for reading and, from 15 onwards, for writing, too. She changed her surname when she married Paul Bowles, then an inspiring musician that would later opt for literature. They did not have a conventional marriage as both maintained their liberal lifestyles. However, they were more than just a marriage of convenience as they leant on and complemented one another. Both belonged to what was called ‘The Beat Generation’; a group of artists, creatives and bohemians from the 50s who opposed the traditional American values, experimented with drugs and a great sexual freedom.
After having lived in various countries, since 1948, the Bowles settled down in Tangier, then an international and cosmopolitan city. They welcomed important writers to their home.
Her first novel, ‘Two Serious Ladies’, was published in 1943 and suffered a lot of criticism. Despite this, it generated fascination among a few writers that appreciated a breath of fresh air that her prose offered.
Jane Bowles, very fond of a drink, prioritised living over writing, but would touch on different literary genres, like theatre. Her play, ‘In The Summer House’, premiered on Broadway but was a box office flop. An enthusiastic spectator in Truman Capote, however, would watch it various times.
Jane suffered from a stroke in 1957 that made writing incredibly difficult for her. She started writing two new novels but never finished them. After having been in London, she was placed in a private elderly home (that no longer exists) in Málaga’s Miraflores de Los Ángeles district where she received psychiatric treatment. The limp she acquired from a young age through an accident worsened and she also lost her vision.
After becoming a catholic, she passed away on 4th May, 1973. She was buried in a grave with no gravestone in an area that no longer exists in the San Miguel cemetery. When the cemetery was redesigned however, Jane’s human remains were transferred to the monumental section, where her tomb is protected by a polished, black granite tombstone on which an epitaph-like message can be read: ‘Gardenia Head’; the name that her friend Truman Capote once dearly named her. Today she is considered as a cult writer, not widely known but cherished by her fans. Her husband, Paul Bowles, gained better recognition, however, as his novel, ‘The Sheltering Sky’, is partially considered to be biographic of their marriage.
Texts: Francisco J. Rodriguez Marin · English Translation: Francisco Pineda Castillo and Sonny Arthur Tuke · English Narration: Sonny Arthur Tuke · Production: Photo Video Digital