De Clérambault

De Clérambault, a marvelous visual versifier of art, an innovative novelette combining art and psychology in a magical verse of romance.

“I sat back closing my eyes again for the whole thirty minutes or so it took to reach my missed stop. My eyelids drew mosaic contours of everything fantastic. Every silvery hair line jeweled the inside of my eyelids drew her face, her eyes and her hair. The brilliant mosaic of her face clashed together to nothingness and things again. I thought, I just thought, what if life was this smooth and fantastic; frankly I think I would be a little bored".

I re-read these lines over and over again, the emotions stacked in every line simply gave my heart a jolt. These lines were taken from a novelette by a wonderful young painter and writer, Bissan Rafe, a good friend of my husband and I. Being a writer myself, I have the pleasure of being one of the editors of her upcoming novelette, De Clérambault.

Rafe acts as both the writer and illustrator for the marvelous novelette. The story is a page-turning psychological melodrama of one of the most romantic disorders of this generation. Told through the eyes of two interchangeable protagonist, the novel takes on a life of its own. The distancing Rafe places between her characters and the rest of the world often encompass the reader as well. The physical distancing and the recanting of the heroin's bizarre fantastical dreams, creates an atmospherically mystery set in a world of captivity and rebellion.

"These moments of hopelessness when time collapses between realities, in these moments I retreat in unison, with a clash of thought to a place where someone loved me. Is it human nature to have such psychological discrepancies? I am waiting for him to come and save me. But why can’t I save myself? Am I too lazy or is it just easier and more romantic to be saved by the notorious knight?"

Bissan Rafe (De Clérambault, pag 30).

A classic tale of fantasy set in the reality of this world.

An in depth analysis of the novelette will follow after the book is published. Stay tuned.

Bissan Rafe main website: Nohra Studio

And the effect was amazing

Mary (Morea Cao)