A Distant Episode is a famous and acclaimed short story by Paul Bowles. It was first published in the Partisan Review (January-February, 1947) and republished in New Directions in Prose and Poetry, #10, 1948.
The story is a fictional account of a Professor of linguistics (likely an ethnic and national French citizen) traveling through what is likely Morocco in the late 1940s. The nation is never, however, specifically mentioned and the cities that are referred to appear to be entirely fictional. Only references to local languages and tribes (especially the Reguibat and Ouled Nail) suggest that the events take place in Morocco, Algeria, or possibly Western Sahara.
Extremely short, the piece is a study of many things, most notably the cultural divisions between Europe and the North African Islamic world, the role of language (emphasized viscerally) in defining identity and narration, and the various and shifting natures of cultural supremacy.
Among twentieth century short stories, it has a strong reputation and is a favorite of authors such as Tobias Wolff and Jay McInerney. Francine Prose mentioned Bowles's work and A Distant Episode specifically as some of the strongest short fiction work of the twentieth century.
Read more about A Distant Episode: Synopsis, The Power of Language
Famous quotes containing the words distant and/or episode:
“straightway like a bell
Came low and clear
The slow, sad murmur of the distant seas,”
—James Kenneth Stephens (1882–1950)
“The press is no substitute for institutions. It is like the beam of a searchlight that moves restlessly about, bringing one episode and then another out of darkness into vision. Men cannot do the work of the world by this light alone. They cannot govern society by episodes, incidents, and eruptions. It is only when they work by a steady light of their own, that the press, when it is turned upon them, reveals a situation intelligible enough for a popular decision.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)