[1] The volume is the sixth collection of Bowles’s work, much of which is re-published material.

[3][4][5] “Allal”“Mejdoub”“You Have Left Your Lotus Pods on the Bus”“The Fqih”“Istikhara, Anaya, Medagan, and the Medaganet”“The Waters of Izli”“Afternoon With Antaeus”“Reminders of Bouselham”“Things Gone and Things Still Here” The stories that comprise Things Gone and Things Still Here were written during a difficult period in Bowles life, during which author and spouse Jane Bowles was in declining health.

[6] As such, Bowles did not travel during this period to collect material and experiences for his fiction.

Bowles was largely occupied with translating audio recordings of Maghrebis stories into English during the early 1970s, in collaboration with Mohammed Mrabet.

[7] All the stories in the collection are set in North Africa, except “You Have Left Your Lotus Pods on the Bus” which is based on Bowles’ brief sojourn in Bangkok, Thailand in 1966.