Pic: Times
The Times (UK) has tracked down Deidre Dare, the Allen & Overy transactional lawyer/sex writer, about whom we wrote previously.
Alas, we were almost deprived of her prose:
Born in Brooklyn to a Russian-Jewish father and an Irish mother, Dare, whose real surname is Clark, always dreamt of becoming a writer. She penned her first novel at five but went on to study law. She was later offered a place at New York’s best journalism school but chose to stick to law because of its high salaries.
Very pragmatic, she. Still, over the course of her 20 years’ practicing, she has found the time to write two previous novels: Big Swinging Dicks, about life in a law firm, and Slut, about, well, a slut. She’s smart enough to stick to what she knows.
“She is, however, keen to emphasise that the novel is, mostly, invention. “I have never had a bad time in bed with a Frenchman,” [ed: neither have I, but that's because I've never been in bed with one] she says. “It’s not meant seriously. In fact I always thought the sex scenes were pretty tame. I can’t see anyone getting turned on.”
Inevitably there are elements that are familiar. Dasha is a New Yorker, albeit 10 years younger than Dare, and some of the novel’s events, such as a big row between BP and three Russian oligarchs over their joint oil venture, are real.
“As with all fiction some elements are autobiographical,” allows Dare, who in person is engaging but possibly a touch reckless, and certainly not the fiercely seductive vamp the book might indicate. The novel, she says, is simply intended to give a first-person insight into the lives of Moscow’s large expatriate community. “Mostly, however, it’s made up. It’s impressionistic. Of course there’s heavy drinking and casual sex among expats.”
Dare throws down the gauntlet, the most-frightening tidbit, and another sample of her poetry, after the jump.
Dare has gotten massive publicity (her website went from 3,500 visitors per month to 800,000 in a few days) and is getting ready to fight.
Dare is gearing up to take on her employer in what could become a landmark case. “It’s getting crazy,” she says, when we meet for coffee in Moscow. Briefly accompanied by her Russian boyfriend, a lawyer 12 years her junior, she seems tired but is in no mood to compromise. After all, she could repeat the success of Petite Anglaise, a young British woman living in Paris who was sacked by her employer when it discovered her identity as the author of an indiscreet blog. She subsequently won a court case against her bosses and became a publishing success.
Dare is 44. She arrived at the interview wearing “a fur coat, black leather trousers and a glittering belt that shifts to reveal a pierced belly button.”
The Wish of the Butterflies
I speak to you across your veil of sleep
Of fragile, golden wings.
I impart to your dreams
The thrill of a child
Who closes his eyes on a swing.
I lend you the sea and all its fishes
For your lovely, naked skin
And I order for you, high above the earth,
A solitary gin.
I murmur into your unhearing ear,
And kiss your peaceful lips – And all the time you toss and turn
Because I am your temptress.
It is I who whispers to you in the night:
Your only fervent Wish.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Your post seems to imply that was sacked. Poor reporting!
Your post seems to imply that was sacked. Poor reporting!
I have read Dare's prose. My advice would be to stick to stick to law. Its two dimensional, one paced and rather shapeless, to say the least. For anyone in the know, one of the 'characters' (or perhaps, cardboard cutout is a more appropriate term) – Simon Rider – is based on a fairly prominent partner at Allen & Overy (the love of horses, commuting from London due to family commitments, avoidance of alcohol fuelled occaisions and rather arrogant/pompous manor bestowed on the chap – grossly unfair in many respects to those who know him – give the game away). Perhaps prostitution would be a good move for Dare, since law is a bore and the ability to write a good noval is clearly beyond her.
You're a braver man than I. I could only get through the first chapter. I stand by my characterization of her poetry as something only a Vogon could love.
Of course, bland writing isn't necessarily so bad for a transactional lawyer. If her credit agreements are as formulaic, predictable, and boring as her fiction, she may well be in the right job.
I have read Dare's prose. My advice would be to stick to stick to law. Its two dimensional, one paced and rather shapeless, to say the least. For anyone in the know, one of the 'characters' (or perhaps, cardboard cutout is a more appropriate term) – Simon Rider – is based on a fairly prominent partner at Allen & Overy (the love of horses, commuting from London due to family commitments, avoidance of alcohol fuelled occaisions and rather arrogant/pompous manor bestowed on the chap – grossly unfair in many respects to those who know him – give the game away). Perhaps prostitution would be a good move for Dare, since law is a bore and the ability to write a good noval is clearly beyond her.
You're a braver man than I. I could only get through the first chapter. I stand by my characterization of her poetry as something only a Vogon could love.
Of course, bland writing isn't necessarily so bad for a transactional lawyer. If her credit agreements are as formulaic, predictable, and boring as her fiction, she may well be in the right job.