The My Library series discovers the books loved by the people we meet. Author and filmmaker Liz Goldwyn shares hers.
Throughout her career Liz has been surrounded by literature and the written word. She has immersed herself in different cultures and opinions, from work as a curator of the Sotheby’s fashion department, to writing a column for the Japanese Hanatsubaki magazine. She has told stories through traditional essays as well as visual exhibitions, films and documentaries. Pretty Things is based on her own documentary on American Burlesque.
“I am a huge fan of William Gibson. His cyber punk novel Neuromancer is a classic: it predates the mainstreaming of the internet and virtual reality.”
His latest book Count Zero was recommended to her during a romantic visit to the Morgan library in New York and seeing a Surrealist drawing show. “The way to my heart is through literature.”
The Chair of History at USC, a recent mentor, recommended Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos to Liz. “It’s a fictional tale set in Los Angeles in 1897 in the world of prostitution. After reading the first draft of my new book, he suggested I look at Dos Passos’ writing – he’s an experimental author whose work reminds me a bit of the beat poets, though he was writing in the 1920s. I also love his novel, 1919.”
