the Gish sisters, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, George Kaufman, Noël Coward, and Maurice Sendak, among others. The Tattooed Countess, which opened in 1961, was panned by the critics and closed within a few days. Dowell, who had written the book, score and lyrics, tried his luck with another theatrical experiment, Eve of the Green Grass. This play was presented at the Chelsea Art Theatre in 1965 and starred Kim Hunter. Seeing his play on the stage, Dowell concluded that the theatre was not his metier and turned his attention to writing novels. This was done without the mourning that the failure of The Tattooed Countess had induced. Dowell's early experiences in the theatre were used in two magazine articles, At Home with Drosselmeier and A Handful of Anomalies which were published in Bomb Magazine in 1984 and 1985, respectively. His theatrical career was also included in his unfinished autobiography, A Dark Book, which was published by The Dalkey Archive Press in June 1993 under the title of A Star-bright Lie. Dowell had found only disillusionment in the theater. He decided to seek his fortune as a writer of fiction. Dowell had already experienced some success in writing fiction. His short story, 'Alter Frau im Garten' had been published in 1962. Over a fifteen period Dowell wrote five novels: One of the Children is Crying (1968), Mrs. October was Here (1974), Island People (1976), Too Much Flesh and Jabez (1977), and White on Black on White (1983). Remarkably, the first four novels had been written concurrently. These novels were intricate both in concept and in form. It was during this period that Dowell enjoyed the critical praise and friendship of such noted authors as Walter Abish, Thom Gunn, John Hawkes, Ann Lauterbach, Gilbert Sorrentino, Maurice Sendak, Edmund White, and Tennessee Williams. Dowell was talented and he yearned to be famous. He very much needed a popular readership. One of the Children is Crying, one of his most accessible books, was widely reviewed, with reviews appearing in Boston, Denver, Hollywood, Houston, Louisville, Milwaukee, Sacramento, and Tulsa. Since One of the Children is Crying had been published earlier in England under the title, The Grass Dies, reviews also appeared in England and Ireland. Surprisingly, reviews for Dowell's second novel, Mrs. October was Here, were meager and from rather obscure sources. Nevertheless, this novel was always mentioned as being Dowell's favorite. Island