Alfred Perles
From Freepedia
Alfred Perlès (1897 - 1990) was an Austrian-British writer, who was most famous for his associations with Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell, and Anaïs Nin.
Born in Vienna in 1897, to Czech parents, Perles struggled as a writer in Paris during his early 30's, where he worked for a while for the Paris office of the Chicago Tribune. In 1933, American writer Henry Miller-- not yet known--took an apartment with Perles in Clichy. Miller wrote of this experience in his book "Quiet Days In Clichy" (1956, orig. written 1940), in which the character "Carl" is based on Perles. Other Miller works about Perles in Paris include his early "What Are You Going To Do About Alf?", and a letter to Perles in "Aller Retour New York."
By 1936, Perles was part of a vibrant Parisian literary scene that included Miller, Lawrence Durrell, and Anais Nin, as well as Antonin Artaud, Michael Fraenkel, Hans Reichel and others. Miller and Durrell often refered to Perles as "Joe" or "Joey." Some of these writers were featured in a magazine called "The Booster," which Perles publiched in 1936, along with Miller. In 1939, the group broke apart, as Miller moved on to Greece and Perles to England (where he later became a British citizen). A few years later, Perles wrote a piece about this circle in "Henry Miller at Villa Seurat" (featured in "The Happy Rock" anthology, 1945).
Perles and Miller maintained a lifelong friendship. Miller visited Perles in the U.K. and Perles visited Miller in Big Sur, California, where he wrote "My Friend Henry Miller" (written in 1954/55). In 1962, Miller and Perles appeared together on film for Canadian broadcaster CBC. In 1969, Perles was interviewed on film about Miller for the documentary "The Henry Miller Odyssey." Miller wrote a tribute to Perles in the memoir "My Bike And Other Friends" (sometimes titled with variation in other publications).
Perles changed his name to Alfred Barret later in life. He died in 1990.
Other Works by Perles
- "The Renegade" (1943)
- "Art And Oranges" (with Lawrence Durrell)
- "Scenes From A Floating Life" (1968)
