When I first reached out to Jane De Suza for some insights into her debut novel The Spy Who Lost Her Head, she asked me, curiously, ‘What about the book caught the attention of a magazine on art?’
For starters, there’s the topsy-turvy world on the cover, with flipped ‘S’s and ‘P’s in the title, and the bizarre image of a flashy female detective with a box in the place of her head. At the beginning of the novel, our heroine is mysteriously missing. And when she confides in us about her predicament, dealing with unsuitable suitors in the village of Gayab where she’s from, she does it in her own colourful version of the ‘Queen’s English’:
They is getting for me one made-in-heaven proposal after another. You see, my Papaji is Lord. He is Lord of many lands. He is having lots money and he is buying anything he wants. He is buying husbands for me, like other mans is buying onions. At bargain price. But I am shake my head at all. ‘This one is playing with his toes’, ‘that one is dig his nose’, ‘that one is spit when he is talk’, ‘and that one is duck-walk!’
Unlike other detective stories I’ve read, this one didn’t feature a protagonist with superhuman skills of deduction, nor a plot that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. Quite refreshingly, quirks and imperfections were pushed into the spotlight. Clearly, an original experience of the crime novel was in store.
Denne historien er fra April - May 2020-utgaven av Arts Illustrated.
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Denne historien er fra April - May 2020-utgaven av Arts Illustrated.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A Sky Full Of Thoughts
Artist James Turrell’s ‘Twilight Epiphany Skyspace’ brings together the many nuances of architecture, time, space, light and music in a profound experience that blurs boundaries and lets one roam free within their own minds
We Are Looking into It
Swiss-based artists Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger talk to us about the evolving meaning and purpose of photography and the many perspectives it lends to history
Cracked Wide Open
Building one of the world’s largest domes was no mean task for anyone, let alone an amateur goldsmith, so how did Filippo Brunelleschi accomplish building not one, but two of them?
In Search of a Witness
In conversation with legendary artist Arpana Caur on all things epiphanic, on all things pandemic, and on all things artistic
Where the Shadows Speak
The founder of Sarmaya Arts Foundation takes us through the bylanes of his journey with Sindhe Chidambara Rao, the custodian of the ancient art form of shadow puppetry – Tholu Bommalata
Bodies in Motion
What happens to the memory of a revelatory experience when it is re-watched through the frames of a screen? It somehow makes the edges sharper and the focal point clearer, as we discover through Chandralekha’s iconic Sharira
Faces in the Water
As physical ‘masks’ become part of our life, we take a look at artists working with different aspects of ‘faces’ and the things that lurk beneath the surface.
A Meeting at the Threshold
The immortal actor exemplified all that is admirable about his profession, from his creative choices to his work philosophy, and his passing was a low blow. This is our tribute to the prince among stars – Irrfan
The Imperfect Layout To The Imperfect Mystery
Jane De Suza’s ‘The Spy Who Lost Her Head’ doesn’t feature a protagonist with superhuman skills of deduction, nor a plot that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. Here, quirks and imperfections are pushed into the spotlight
Free and Flawed
Greta Gerwig revitalises the literary classic, Little Women, highlighting the literary journey of its temperamental and wonderfully flawed female protagonist, Jo March
