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An artist of literary and musical legend, Paul Bowles could also be considered one of the grandfathers of the Beat movement. A native New Yorker, Bowles began dabbling in poetry as a child and shortly thereafter began studying music with Aaron Copland, and later formed a working relationship with Leonard Bernstein. During the 1930s and 1940s, he became a mentor, of sorts, to a number of young writers including the likes of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg. Also, during the same time period, Bowles composed musicals on Broadway, as well as featured music for the stage works of Tennessee Williams, William Saroyan, and Orson Welles. His music and his literature were almost exactly polar opposites of each other, with his music having been described as light and enchanting. His novels, on the other hand, tended to highlight darker themes. Bowles was married to fellow writer Jane Sydney Auer, which proved to be a very unconventional marriage, due to the fact that both Bowles and his wife were homosexual and both enjoyed extramarital affairs. Bowles died in late 1999, at the age of 88.