Widow Basquiat is a love story for the ages; an unorthodox dissection of one of modern history’s greatest artists, Jean-Michel Basquiat, as recounted by his muse, Suzanne Mallouk. It’s also Dua’s Monthly Read for June for the Service95 Book Club.
The book, written by the couple’s longtime friend, Jennifer Clement, serves as a vivid portrait of a young and unique artist burning brightly in New York City before his untimely death at the age of 27. Here, Jennifer shares the books and film that inspired her novel, and the songs to soundtrack your reading...
The Books That Inspired Widow Basquiat
Junky by William S Burroughs
“Basquiat, Suzanne and I were fascinated by William Burroughs. We always went to his NYC readings. I was interested in him because he killed his wife, Joan, in Mexico City, where I’m from, during a drunken game of William Tell. Suzanne was obsessed with this story and in 1985 painted a large portrait of Joan. I have this portrait in Mexico City. Instead of a highball glass full of gin on Joan’s head, Suzanne painted a big red apple. At least one of Basquiat’s paintings has references to Burroughs and the killing of Joan. He even paints the bullets.”
Cane by Jean Toomer
“In writing the short but intense love story between Jean-Michel Basquiat and Dr Suzanne Mallouk, I was looking for books that break into new forms. Through studying Cane, I decided to write the dual voice in Widow Basquiat – Suzanne’s voice is not based on an interview. No matter what book I’m working on, Cane is always present.”
The Diary of Frida Kahlo by Frida Kahlo
“I wrote Widow Basquiat in Mexico City in 1997 and, in so many ways, it’s a work of innocence as Basquiat did not have the fame he has today. So many editors (19 in total) who turned down the book even asked who Basquiat was! While I wrote the memoir, I was also reading Kahlo’s dairy, which had been published two years earlier. I was interested in reading about the way she watched Diego Rivera paint and his response to her painting. Kahlo suffered, but she always had a great sense of humor. This is her description of the colour yellow:
madness and mystery
all the ghosts wear
clothes of this color, or at
least their underclothes.”
& A Few More Literary Inspirations...
“Owls do Cry by Janet Frame, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and The Big Music by Kirsty Gunn are books that are always on my desk as if they were talismans. These books inspire me for their language and courage.”
The Film At The Heart Of Widow Basquiat
“Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl is a 1919 silent film directed by DW Griffith. It’s the story of a kind, opium-addicted Chinese man, who is a dreamer, and Lucy, an abused girl. Widow Basquiat is inspired by the aesthetic of silent films and the very heart of the book is a scene where Basquiat and Suzanne watch Broken Blossoms. I was never able to get my hands on the film’s script, and so had to watch it dozens of times in order to copy down some of the film’s text, which I reproduce in Widow Basquiat.”
The Playlist To Soundtrack Your Reading
“My Widow Basquiat soundtrack has songs that are in my book and some that take me back to those days. As Suzanne and I met working as waitresses in a Mexican restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, our anthem is The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me, which opens with the lyric, “I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar that much is true.” To this day, Suzanne and I sing this song to each other. The soundtrack includes Drum Mode from Basquiat’s band Gray, named after the medical book Gray’s Anatomy, which he founded with other musicians in 1979.”
Widow Basquiat is Dua’s Monthly Read For June – discover Jennifer’s full video interview with Dua here, or listen to it with the Service95 Book Club podcast here.
