Books like Collected Stories, 1939-1976

stunning. some of these stories really approach perfection. i read many of them about 10 years ago, but i reread every last one this summer and found no fault with any of them. bowles' tendency toward a concomitant sensitivity and roughness is irresistible, and i am very attracted by his ability to write about cultures that are not his own without setting up the "us-them" dichotomy which is the downfall of so much travel writing (fictional and non-). in fact, bowles often does use an "us-them" dichotomy, but "we" and "they" are unrelated to cultural background or nationality, rather going directly to the foundations of humanness with compassion and an utter absence of sentimentality.