Travel writing can suck. Sometimes. But sometimes it can blow your mind, get you out of bed, and suddenly you’re studying a foreign language, learning to cook a new cuisine, or if you’ve been reading Paul Bowles, then there’s a good chance you’re wearing a Moroccan djellaba.

Personally, I love a good story inspired by foreign lands, strange experiences, and perhaps a slightly drug-addled imagination.  And if you’re a notorious traveller and a seeker of the sublime, then you’re probably in the same boat as me.

Travel writing these days is about as overflowing as Kim Kardashian’s chest. However, the classics still remain and because their writers were some of the first to traverse into alien territory, their words will always hold a certain charm modern travel writers cannot transpire.

Give It Up For Paul Bowles

When I first began my awkward and and albeit naive journey into the highly addictive world of nomadic living I was given some short stories by Paul Bowles. He is now one of my favorite writers in and out of the travel writing genre.

Whether you’re about to take your first step onto North Africa or you’re chilling on your Manhattan balcony, I highly advocate your reading of some Paul Bowles.

Paul Bowles was an American writer, translator, and composer. In 1947 he settled down in Tangiers, Morocco and spent the next 52 years of his life living there. His writing has left quite a mark on both the travel and literature scene, with Gore Vidal stating ranking his stories among the best of any American writing. 

“…the floor to this ramshackle civilization that we have built cannot bear much longer our weight. It was Bowles’s genius to suggest the horrors which lie beneath that floor, as fragile, in its way, as the sky that shelters us from a devouring vastness.” - Gore Vidal

Add These To Your List

Bowles was a prolific writer, but to get you started, here are some suggestions. And a word of warning: they’re not always clean or PG13.

The Sheltering Sky (1949) - An existential masterpiece that tells of the ruination of an American couple in 1930s Morocco. It’s decadent and delicious. Much of the story is drawn from his own experience in Tangiers. 

The Delicate Prey & Other Stories (1950) - This collection of short stories spans more than a few countries and captures a much seedier and menacing side of humanity. Not for the faint of heart.

Let It Come Down (1952) - This one’s bleak. It’s dark. It’s awesome. It chronicles the story of a man who moves to Tangiers in order to start a new life. Brothels, drugs, and some disagreeable characters.

The djellaba-wearing  people of Morocco are decidedly much nicer than the ones in Star Wars.