03-08-2021, 11:32 AM
Sorry it took a while to get back to you. I had to jog my memory on a few particulars.
Lisa's first novel, The Red Magician (1982), was praised by Philip K. Dick (shortly before his death) and went on to win a National Book Award. Oddly, I have not read it. But there's little rhyme or reason to my reading or movie-viewing habits.
I did read her second book, The Dream Years (1985), about a young surrealist living in 1920s Paris who falls in love with a mysterious woman and together they're transported to the 1968 Paris riots. I really enjoyed the depiction of Breton and his circle of early surrealists doing their thing, but I'm not recalling the later 1960s portion of the book. Then again, it's been a long while. I remember reading elsewhere about Philippe Soupault, one of the early literary surrealists, and how he had a penchant for wandering about Paris knocking on random doors and asking if Philippe Soupault lived there. Yeah, silly, but cute. So I was blown away when Lisa told me that while in Paris doing research for the novel, she had run into Soupault. There wasn't much to the meeting, and I don't remember the details. I've rewritten the memory such that Lisa knocked on a random door and Soupault answered.
I read the workshop version of her most recent novel, Ivory Apples (2019), and found it very enjoyable.
We have several other of her novels in our bookcases, some of which I might have read, but I can't recall. Now I'm feeling guilty, not having read her more than I have.
Lisa's first novel, The Red Magician (1982), was praised by Philip K. Dick (shortly before his death) and went on to win a National Book Award. Oddly, I have not read it. But there's little rhyme or reason to my reading or movie-viewing habits.
I did read her second book, The Dream Years (1985), about a young surrealist living in 1920s Paris who falls in love with a mysterious woman and together they're transported to the 1968 Paris riots. I really enjoyed the depiction of Breton and his circle of early surrealists doing their thing, but I'm not recalling the later 1960s portion of the book. Then again, it's been a long while. I remember reading elsewhere about Philippe Soupault, one of the early literary surrealists, and how he had a penchant for wandering about Paris knocking on random doors and asking if Philippe Soupault lived there. Yeah, silly, but cute. So I was blown away when Lisa told me that while in Paris doing research for the novel, she had run into Soupault. There wasn't much to the meeting, and I don't remember the details. I've rewritten the memory such that Lisa knocked on a random door and Soupault answered.
I read the workshop version of her most recent novel, Ivory Apples (2019), and found it very enjoyable.
We have several other of her novels in our bookcases, some of which I might have read, but I can't recall. Now I'm feeling guilty, not having read her more than I have.
I'm nobody's pony.