I'm inestimably proud of this book and the wonderful response it's already received from reviewers. The Fiery Alphabet makes its official debut tomorrow, September 5.
Diane Lefer: Thank you for the introduction, Jessica. When I sent you The Fiery Alphabet, I didn't dare admit the manuscript had been making the rounds of publishers for 26 years. I thought, who on earth would want to publish a book that had already racked up so many rejections? Well, you did. You know, years before, I had drinks with a prominent editor in New York. She said, "If I used my own taste, I'd be betraying the trust the company has in me." That's why I have such love and appreciation for small independent presses like Loose Leaves. You get to use your own taste and judgment. And I hope my experience can encourage other writers to never lose faith or give up.
JK: That's exactly what Loose Leaves aims to do: give good books a chance in this bizarre new publishing milieu. What
happened during the intervening 26 years?
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| Diane Lefer |
Even before that, The Fiery Alphabet had a long gestation period. It's a book I'd
wanted to write since I was a kid and saw a TV show about the occultist
Cagliostro. I wasn't that enthralled with his magical powers but very impressed
with the idea that a person could be an actual historical figure – even a
famous one – and yet shrouded in mystery. Like Shakespeare. As a kid, I loved
Shakespeare because he wrote about witches and ghosts, and this unlikely pair
became the creative polestars of my youth: Shakespeare and Cagliostro.
Then, in the early 1970's, I was in Brazil during
the brutal dictatorship. People were being detained, tortured, disappeared. Any
gathering of students was dangerous and forbidden but what happened was, if you
sat down in a cafe with a book, a student would join you, hoping for a good
conversation. That's how I met a young writer, Mauro Costa, who had just read
Jung's Psychology and Alchemy and was
eager to discuss it. Unfortunately, I had never read it. I hadn't even heard of
it, but I sought out a copy as soon as I returned to the US and the book awakened
an interest in the Divine Feminine – the archetype with such beautiful names:
Queen of Heaven, Rosa Mystica, Star of the Sea – and reawakened my desire to write about mysticism and
Cagliostro. I learned his real name was Giuseppe Balsamo: one mystery about him
solved. But another ten years passed before Daniela presented herself to my
consciousness and I began to write.
I worked on the manuscript for several years. Once I
started sending it out – and by the way, I avoid using the word
"submit." I think it was Muriel Rukeyser who said offer your work,
but don't give up your power. Never submit! – there was a lot of discouragement.
The very first rejection began with the words, "Daniela is a passionate
creature, but her passion is for learning. Intellectual women aren't interesting."
As though there's something wrong with being curious about the world and
wanting to know and understand and experience as much as you can – which for
Daniela definitely includes love and sexual desire. I took the criticism very
personally because I came of age during an era when girls weren't supposed to
be smart. Some adults actually expressed their sympathy as they assured me I
would never fit in and my life would be very hard. A few took a more optimistic
view of my future: they said I might get to marry a doctor. Of course, in the
novel, Daniela's intelligence lands her in more trouble than mine ever did. But
the manuscript (and I) finally lucked out to find a smart woman editor who had
the authority to make an offer without having to sneak it past the gatekeepers.
Though I did a lot of research, I didn't really
think of my novel as all that high-brow. Several years before I began writing
it, I was broke and had to borrow rent money. A nonfiction book project I was
working on for which a contract was supposedly being drawn fell through. I
ended up getting out of debt by writing two Regency romances, that is, romances
set in nineteenth-century England during the time King George III was too mad to rule
and his son, the Prince Regent, ruled in his stead. (The books were published
under a pseudonym because the editor said, "Diane Lefer isn't a romantic
name.")
Writing those books was a great experience. Getting
paid for my work? What a concept! But also, I admit, my orientation as a writer
had always been to concentrate on my characters' inner lives. I was not very
observant of physical reality. The Regencies, however, had to be written to a
formula which went so far as to specify not only when the romantic encounters
were to occur (and how far they could go), but also how often descriptions of food
and clothing and furniture had to appear on the page. This was excellent
training for me. Of course, in The Fiery
Alphabet, I wasn't writing to formula and didn't include quite that much
sensory detail. Most of the novel is in the form of Daniela's journals and a
person writing a journal takes much of her world for granted and doesn't
describe everything the way an outside observer might. But the Regencies taught
me to pay attention to the world of the senses.
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| Diane's Artemis of Ephesus |
JK: What first drew me in to The Fiery Alphabet was the fictionalized Translator's Preface, in which you have a subtle adventure in Turkey. Tell me about the research.
DL: I went to Turkey to visit the harem and the
archaeological sites associated with Goddess worship: çatal Hüyük, the world's most ancient city; Ephesus with its
temple to Artemis. I brought home a small statue of the goddess and one day,
trying to get all the dust off her, I made the mistake of washing her. The
statue started to melt. I saved most of her!
In order to immerse myself in Daniela's world, I
tried to read everything she would have read, though often in translation as,
unlike Daniela, I don't know Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. I read Casanova's memoirs
– useful but boring. I needed special permission to access eighteenth-century
obstetrical manuals. I stared at Piranesi's etchings of Rome until I could
dream myself into them. So, OK, I knew there was a lot of ... erudition in The Fiery Alphabet, but I believe I'd also learned a lot about just
telling a good story.
JK: Did you
revise much during the 26 years?
DL: At some point I changed the title. The manuscript
first made the rounds as "Ardent Fire," which is actually a phrase Balsamo quotes
from St. John of the Cross, but people thought it sounded like the title of a
romance novel. Daniela does fall in love with Balsamo, but editors who expected
a more familiar romance novel were disappointed. Marketing isn't just about ads
and blogs and reviews. I understand now it's about a cover and a title that
don't mislead potential readers, that help a book find the readership that will
most enjoy it. I've been happily stunned by all the positive reactions to the
cover Loose Leaves designed and I appreciate the way you all wanted my input.
Over the years, I did some revising and cutting. I
found myself simplifying the manuscript – without, I hope, dumbing it down. For
example, in the original draft, Daniela writes two journals. One she leaves
lying around hoping Balsamo will find it and read it and love her for it. The
other is private and in it she writes what she really thinks and feels. Then
A.S. Byatt published the novel Possession
which also features a public and a private diary. I was afraid people would
think I'd stolen the idea from her so I very reluctantly rewrote the novel.
Daniela has only one journal now. And though I still think there's
psychological truth in the original concept, I ended up happy I made the
change. The revision does make a somewhat complicated novel more readable,
easier to follow. After all, we got that review from ForeWord calling the book "complex and thoroughly
satisfying" – which sure beats someone saying it was too damn complex to
read.
Find Diane's website here. If you want to know more about The Fiery Alphabet, take a look at these additional discussions:
Eliza Gales Interviews
She Writes
The soft cover is available here, from Indiebound, anywhere fine books are sold, and directly from Loose Leaves.
Ebook editions: Nook | Kobo | Kindle | Kindle UK | Kindle Canada
