If you tried to imagine what a novel set in the lead-up to the second World War, that revolves around an heiress-art patron who makes a last-ditch effort to save some of the 20th century's most important artists , would be like, you'd probably conceive of something grandiose, overwhelming in its heft—both moral, and probably literal. What I'm saying is: It's easy to imagine a big book.
Below is my conversation with Maum about the novel, the appeal of writing from the perspective of an adolescent girl, and how the environment of the actual Costalegre informed the tone of the book.So originally, I was looking into the history of the Guggenheim—specifically the Peggy Guggenheim—lineage for a completely unrelated project that did not see the light of day.
I think what's so striking about writing a book that's grounded in history and real people, but subverting the reality of what happened by adding surreal touches—like, even Costalegre's cover has a tiger on it, and there's no tigers in Mexico—means that you get to have a strange kind of freedom, where you can get at a different kind of truth in terms of the story and the characters.
Well, you know, I was thinking about this morning because I was speaking to an artist about behavior, how creatives have to behave now. And we were talking about that, like, the wild behavior—what seems to us as wild behavior—of surrealists, specifically during this time period. And I was thinking the thing about creative people today is that we have such an awareness of personal brands, and writers especially are encouraged to build this brand.
Meanwhile, he's in love with Leonora Carrington. It was mutual. And he, I mean I think there was an initial chemistry [with Peggy], but from what I read, he did not love her back, and, in fact, resented her most of his life for sort of being under her heel. And that was hard to read, because I think it's true of writers, it's true of artists. We want to feel free, we need to feel free, to do our best work. I really believe that.
Basically, the entire story is about a young girl who's trying to find a place in the adult world and is coming to terms with the realization that she might have to bring herself up alone. And, specifically a 15-year-old in 1937, your future is very much tied to your sexuality and your attractiveness and whether or not you're getting a husband and how soon are you getting that husband and what family is he coming from and all these things.
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