Constance DeJongs debut novel, back in print

People used to tell me, if you keep on writing maybe youll make a name for yourself, New Yorkbased artist and writer Constance DeJong (born 1950) wrote in Modern Love. They were right: My names Constance DeJong. My names Fifi Corday. My names Lady Mirabelle, Monsieur Le Prince, and Roderigo. Roderigos my favorite name. First I had my fathers name, then my husbands, then anothers. I dont know. I dont want to know the cause of anything.

Modern Love, DeJongs first book, was published in 1977 by Standard Editions, an imprint co-founded by DeJong and Dorothea Tanning. In 1978, the text was adapted into a 60-minute radio program accompanied by the Modern Love Waltz, a piano composition by Philip Glass. In this new edition, DeJongs debut novel is brought back into print, her dissonant shifts of voice and inimitable staccato rhythm made available to a new generation of readers.