Judy Lopatin - Seventeen stories tell of a rock singer's experiences with men, ghosts, painters, prostitutes, photographers, murderers, the Paris underworld, and secret lives

Judy Lopatin, Modern Romances, Fiction Collective 2, 1986.
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Seventeen stories tell of a rock singer's experiences with men, ghosts, painters, prostitutes, photographers, murderers, the Paris underworld, and secret lives.


Judy Lopatin's first collection of stories trains a quirky, agile intelligence on the New York-Paris axis, locating romance in hospitals, opium dens, law firms, movie theaters.

They're hardly love stories, though. Modern romances are invariably someone else's, vicarious pleasures available to eavesdroppers and voyeurs. In fact, the only successful romance here is the one between the author and the various genres she takes apart and tinkers with. ''The Real Life of Viviane Romance'' exploits the tough-guy rhythms of detective fiction with tongue in cheek. ''Trixie Taylor, Hospital Nurse'' brings a similarly pulpish accent to its story of an unpopular R.N.: ''For the first time in years Trixie Taylor thought about the dull fiance she had escaped marrying.

The hospital is my husband, Trixie thinks. But perhaps a dull husband these days. She laughs suddenly, dangerously.'' Less indebted to genre, ''Nuit Blanche,'' ''Krystal Goes Mystical'' and ''Retrospective on Weegee'' - a rumination on the 1940's photographer whose voyeuristic work dovetails perfectly with Ms. Lopatin's - are equally successful in working the connection between romance and imagination. It's refreshing to see a story collection that breaks cleanly out of the narrow circuit of family disputes and revelations. ''Modern Romances'' has its failures; the title story, for example, offers a neat package of new wave goods whose calculated titillations (bored violence, bored sex) already seem stale. Still, it's a debut of cool wit, wide range and promise. - James Marcus

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/16/books/in-short-fiction-377786.html

This first collection of stories, set mostly in New York and Paris, takes much of its inspiration from the more experimental wing of American fiction, but its most affecting moments are those with more ordinary characters and situations. Skill, empathy and wit exist here; still, when the varied stories are added up, the arty writer tends to win out over her characters, stunting them in favor of fictional devices and an emphasis on mysticism, S&M and other dark, fashionable fascinations. In the relatively homespun ""Nuit Blanche,"" a lonely American woman ventures more deeply than she had planned into the Paris nightclub world. Set in a Detroit suburb, ""A Murder History"" creates an eerie effect as two strangers, a man and a woman, discover they shared a grade-school teacher who never forgot that a student grew up to be a murderer: unbeknowst to the woman it's this man. And two stories set in staid law firms work well, going against the book's generally more exotic grain. But the more formally experimental stories, which make up much of the rest of the book, evoke little real feeling--the fractured narratives; the shock effects; the wise, ironic comments on modern life; all wear thin without the backing of strong characters or ideas. All in all, a mixed bag by an author whose preoccupations with fiction's techniques can sometimes dry up our interest in her subject matter. - Kirkus Reviews


Judy Lopatin keeps me up all night with this collection of fiction. I wanted to read one story each night before going to sleep, but couldn't put the book down! My curiosity overtook me, and I just had to see who the next set of characters would be in the next story, and what kind of a twist of fate they might encounter. The author introduces us to a variety of characters --- from ghosts to everyday working people --- all with one thing in common --- the experience of romance in some form. If you were or are a Twilight Zone fan, you'll absolutely treasure this collection of bizarre love stories --- and they are timeless. They never get old. This is some of the cleverest writing I have ever experienced. Judy Lopatin is truly a gifted author. I hope we see more of her work soon! - I Loved Modern Romances! amazon.com


excerpt:
"At three in the morning one morning, Dominica returns to the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, a painter. In relation to painters- and Dominica has had a long string of painter-boyfriends- Dominica sees herself as a capable, pragmatic businesswoman. But she also likes a little beauty in her life. Her current painter, Dietrich, paints crudely but colorfully, and he is also known as the most beautiful boy in the city. He doesn't mind what she does. Dietrich is the romantic type, lost in the clouds and the bottle. He thinks Dominica is pretty and sweet and sweet and wicked, all at the same time, and that excites him