Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
 | |
| Author | Andrea Lawlor |
|---|---|
| Genre | Picaresque novel |
| Set in | United States, 1993 |
| Published |
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| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | 0-525-56618-X |
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is a novel by American writer Andrea Lawlor. It was published in 2017 by Rescue Press. The picaresque novel, which took the author 15 years to write, follows a protagonist who can shapeshift as he uses this ability to change his gender expression while roaming the United States.
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is Andrea Lawlor's debut novel. The text exhibits postmodern influences. The book received positive reviews, with reviewers praising the
Background
Writer Andrea Lawlor was involved with queer activism as an undergraduate in the 1990s, founding the first lesbian and gay group at Fordham University.[1] They began writing Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl in San Francisco when they were 30 years old. They had just quit a corporate job and began exploring creative writing while working at a bookstore. They wrote the initial draft of the first section of Paul for a writing workshop held in someone's living room.[2] The concept was influenced by Orlando: A Biography, which Lawlor read in high school "because it was on a list of books with something queer in them".[3] Metamorphoses[4] and Wild Seed were additional influences.[1]
Lawlor later enrolled in a creative writing graduate program taught by Samuel R. Delany at Temple University, and turned in the draft; Delany encouraged them to continue working on the story.[2] Lawlor completed the first draft of the novel while in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Massachusetts. They worked on the novel while enrolled in graduate classes, teaching, working, and caring for a baby with their partner.[2] The novel took 15 years to complete.[3]
According to Lawlor, the draft was initially rejected by various publishers because they didn't think it had enough plot or conflict. Lawlor refused to make protagonist Paul learn a lesson in the text, believing that conventional plot structure would make the novel unrealistic.[2]
Lawlor is close friends with Jordy Rosenberg, author of the queer novel Confessions of the Fox; Rosenberg lives with Lawlor's family.[3]
Rescue Press publication
Rescue Press published Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl with an initial run of 500 copies[2] in 2017.[3] It was Lawlor's debut novel.[1] Despite the limited initial printing, the novel was reviewed in the "Briefly Noted" section of The New Yorker, which Lawlor said prompted widespread interest in the book as well as potential film rights. (The book was optioned by Ryan Murphy.) Lawlor was subsequently able to begin working with literary agent PJ Mark, who negotiated a deal for broader publication with Vintage Books.[2]
Vintage Books re-publication
Vintage Books reprinted Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl in 2019.[3] According to Lawlor, half of the profits from the reprint go to Rescue Press in perpetuity.[2] Picador published Paul in Britain.[4]
Content
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is set in 1993,[4] and its content is heavily influenced by the queer culture of the 1990s. The novel's protagonist, 23-year-old[1] Paul Polydoris, is a student and bartender who discovers that he is secretly capable of shapeshifting. He uses this ability to change his gender expression, sometimes for sexual purposes, while adventuring across the United States.[2][3] Settings include the punk subculture of Iowa City, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Provincetown, Massachusetts in the off-season,[3] and a leather bar backroom in Chicago. All these settings are in places the author has lived.[1]
The narrative is a picaresque novel[1][5]: 155 interspersed with short fables, and devices from postmodern literature such as footnotes and pastiche are present in the text.[3] Lawlor has described the novel as "thinly veiled autobiography" but also stated that "at the end of the day, I'm not Paul and Paul is not me".[6]
Reception
Awards
Lawlor received a Whiting Award for Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl.[2] The book was a finalist for the Firecracker Awards[7] and the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature in 2018.[8]
Reviews
The Guardian praised Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl for its period accuracy as well as its well-written depictions of sex. The review argued that the book's "unapologetically queer" nature should not hinder its mainstream success, describing Lawlor's writing as "evocative and urgent".[4] Another mention of Paul in The Guardian characterized the novel as "a picaresque romp".[1]
Maggie Nelson praised the sex scenes in Paul as "HOT".[1]
Academic analysis
A Feminist Formations article asserted that Paul's "gender processes" in the novel "complicate the nature/culture binary", which the author described as "a crucial project from a queer ecological/ecofeminist perspective, given that the culture/nature binary supports degradation of both the Earth and marginalized people".[5]: 155
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Needham, Alex (2019-04-05). "Andrea Lawlor: 'I feel that every good thing in my life has come from being queer'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Canfield, David (March 25, 2020). "Queer author Andrea Lawlor just won a Whiting Award. It's been a long, gratifying road". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Haldeman, Peter (2018-10-24). "The Coming of Age of Transgender Literature". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ a b c d Parkinson, Hannah Jane (2019-05-06). "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor – urgent and evocative". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ a b Belmont, Cynthia (2023). "Organic Transitioning and Queer Topophilia in Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl". Feminist Formations. 35 (2): 154–173. doi:10.1353/ff.2023.a907925. ISSN 2151-7371.
- ^ Anderson-Minshall, Jacob (July 29, 2019). "Writer Andrea Lawlor Is a Worthy Successor to Virginia Woolf". The Advocate. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ "2018 Firecracker Award Finalists Announced". Publishers Weekly. May 4, 2018. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
- ^ Boureau, Ella (2018-03-06). "30th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2024-01-01.