Owen McGowan

After four years in Cambridge (Massachusetts), where he read Procrastination, Owen McGowan went west and is currently a pear farmer in California's Sacramento Delta when he is not listening to Wagner or estivating in Southeast Asia.

The Kindly Ones

April 21, 2009 | By Owen McGowan | Books

Jonathan Littell’s Les Bienveillantes, just published in English as The Kindly Ones, is rubbish. What could have been an enthralling 394-page novel on the daily grind of history’s largest war is instead a lame 1,394-page (992 in the English version) … Read More

Touring France

July 19, 2005 | By Owen McGowan | Farther Afield

Making Sens of Burgundy The very first bridge over the mighty Seine, just a trickle at its source. There are umpteen options for a weekend getaway from Paris, but how many take you to places nobody goes to, French or … Read More