Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 32

Savage justice: Colm Toibin dares retell the Oresteia of Aeschylus

Speaking of epic, I endured my long flight home by watching movies. The plane was so full, my coach section so crammed, that I could not write in my notebook or read a book without jamming my elbow up someone’s nostril. (Also Etihad no longer gives out toiletries and only allows one piece of checked […]

The long stairway to the nearest cat (can make the wretched sigh)

According to my friend Rebecca, there is a large colony of cats living on the hillside around Sacre Coeur, and she sees some of them on the street every morning when the neighborhood cat lady feeds them. I didn’t see any of the hill cats. Whenever I missed my feline overlords at home, I had […]

The long stairway to the nearest cat

According to my friend Rebecca, there is a large colony of cats living on the hillside around Sacre Coeur, and she sees some of them on the street every morning when the neighborhood cat lady feeds them. I didn’t see any of the hill cats. Whenever I missed my feline overlords at home, I had […]

You could be doing nothing and the story will still find you, Act III: The conclusion

A robbery by Caravaggio The next morning, Jessica goes off to the Louvre. Anouk sets about finding replacement locks, etc. They’re expensive and theoretically should be covered by insurance, but the fine print disagrees. Then Anouk gets a phone call, garbled, from someone who says, “I am sanitary services.” He sounds scary and raspy. He […]

You could be doing nothing and the story will still find you, Act II: At the police station

Here the mood shifts from Rohmer to Melville. The prefecture of police is in Clignancourt. Seedy. The kind where they march Jean-Paul Belmondo in in handcuffs, and slam his face against a table. There are four people waiting to file reports ahead of Anouk and Jessica. The cops are kind of cute, and their uniforms […]

You could be doing nothing, and the story will still find you.

In which Jessica goes away to decompress and lands in a Rohmer-like movie. Jessica visits her friend Anouk in Paris. Anouk is Belgian and has lived in Paris for thirty years. Upon arriving from Manila, Jessica passes out for ten hours. Anouk’s daughter Annick, who lives outside Paris, is sleeping over for the night. When […]

Playlists for when you’re stuck in traffic 1: R.E.M.

My solution: I’m away for two weeks, and then I’m going to hole up in my house in December because I have two manuscripts to prepare for printing. (I’ve stocked up enough cat food and litter till the New Year.)

The Crash: How Ishiguro wrote a novel in 4 weeks, longhand, helped by a Tom Waits song

From 2014, the 2017 Nobel Prize winner on how he wrote his Booker Prize winner. By the time you embark on The Crash, you should have done all your research. You will need 1. Absolutely no distractions. 2. Pen and paper. 3. The right playlist. How I wrote The Remains of the Day in four […]

When an artist you admire is revealed to be a creep or worse

2017: the year all remaining illusions took a hit.

Live your life filled with joy and thunder—R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People is 25

Since last year my playlists have been obituaries. David Bowie. Prince, goddammnit. George Michael. Chris Cornell. Steely Dan (half of them). So when I was reminded that R.E.M.’s Automatic For The People was released exactly 25 years ago, I had to celebrate the fact that everyone in the band is alive!!! They’ve disbanded, but they’re […]