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Yesterday’s Perfume: An Intimate Memoir of Paul Bowles

Written on April 19, 2008

Yesterday’s Perfume: An Intimate Memoir of Paul Bowles Fifteen years ago, Cherie Nutting returned to Morocco. She had first visited it as a child with her mother, and the images of mystery and the desert had stayed with her, fueled over the years by accounts of expatriate life and by the literature created there. In Tangier again, she met the most famous of the expatriates and author of the classic The Sheltering Sky. Cherie became a friend of Paul Bowles and part of his circle. Over the years, the friendship deepened and widened.

Yesterday’s Perfume is a memoir of that friendship and of Cherie’s love of Morocco. She had unparalleled access to Paul, and recorded, journal-like, their conversations and the events of everyday life. Interwoven among Cherie’s narrative are bits and pieces of Paul’s previously unpublished writings — diarylike fragments, retellings of dreams, little stories — a sharp counterpoint in his inimitable voice.

Unlike most memoirs, Yesterday’s Perfume is blessed with a wealth of extraordinary images. Cherie has created a visual record of their friendship, capturing intimate moments, making formal portraits, recording the comings and goings of celebrities and friends. And here, too, the dialogue with Bowles continues, for Paul has jotted down his reactions in the borders and on the prints.

Several other friends have contributed to these pages, Peter Beard, Ned Rorem, and Bruce Weber among them. But key is the collaboration of Cherie and Paul. Together they have created a touching portrait of friendship and a road map to the mind of an artist.
Customer Review: A POIGNANT MEMOIR OF PAUL BOWLES
Paul Bowles’ collaboration with the photographer Cherie Nutting was a very special endeavor. It was his last writing before his death in November 1999. This hardcover book is beautifully produced, and Mr. Bowles himself actually handwrote some of the text and wholeheartedly participated in it. He relied on the artistic ability of his friend to produce–over a period of many years–such quality photos of himself and those around him. This is a ‘must have’ book for any afficionado of Paul Bowles. I highly recommend it. It is inconceivable to me why anyone would write a negative review, but perhaps those are the unfortunate and jealous souls who were not included.
Customer Review: Who is this woman?
Cherie Nutting somehow attached herself to Paul Bowles and took lots of photographs. Many of these are of herself in various gauzy poses. We also get the inside story in the form of her dreamlife. “Memoir” indeed, but who cares? What does all this have to do with Paul Bowles, especially the version that created the books and music? Toward the end of this volume we realize how lonely and confused Mr. Bowles was, and how ripe for an opportunistic Ms. Nutting. I don’t know exactly what to call this thing, but the Bowles name would more correctly appear in it as a footnote.

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Filed in: Perfume; Cologne.

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