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Modern Love
Constance DeJong’s debut novel, back in print “People used to tell me, if you keep on writing maybe you’ll make a name for yourself,” New York–based artist and writer Constance DeJong (born 1950) wrote in Modern Love . “They were My name’s Constance DeJong. My name’s Fifi Corday. My name’s Lady Mirabelle, Monsieur Le Prince, and Roderigo. Roderigo’s my favorite name. First I had my father’s name, then my husband’s, then another’s. I don’t know. I don’t want to know the cause of anything.”
Modern Love , DeJong’s first book, was published in 1977 by Standard Editions, an imprint co-founded by DeJong and Dorothea Tanning. In 1978, the text was adapted into a 60-minute radio program accompanied by the “Modern Love Waltz,” a piano composition by Philip Glass. In this new edition, DeJong’s debut novel is brought back into print, her dissonant shifts of voice and inimitable staccato rhythm made available to a new generation of readers.
Modern Love , DeJong’s first book, was published in 1977 by Standard Editions, an imprint co-founded by DeJong and Dorothea Tanning. In 1978, the text was adapted into a 60-minute radio program accompanied by the “Modern Love Waltz,” a piano composition by Philip Glass. In this new edition, DeJong’s debut novel is brought back into print, her dissonant shifts of voice and inimitable staccato rhythm made available to a new generation of readers.
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
October 29, 2020
Was struggling yesterday through some of the NY art scene navel-gazing of the first half that was beginning to feel monotonous to me and a lil too indebted to other downtown punk writers from that time. When I picked it up today though, I found out that the second half opens with a naval battle (??), transitions into an historical epic about a revolutionary jew in the Spanish Inquisition (??????), swiftly traces that back to the downtown New York romantic melodrama of the first half, then dabbles in being a superhero comic, a pulp sci-fi novel, and a spy thriller all in like 40 pages. In many ways I would describe this genre shapeshifting as "unhinged" and also "a lot of fun." Definitely on and off tedious for a few stretches—some of the period piece section dragged for me because I'm not all that interested in European monarchical politics circa 1492—but the constant reinvention and shattering of expectations really warmed me up to this by the end.
The novel is technically composed of five short books that were written and published over the course of 3 years, and it's clear at what point Constance DeJong stops giving a shit about writing like her contemporaries and just starts letting loose and having fun with genre and form. Very neat and fun if a lil bit back-heavy, and a lot of it feels like a clear influence on Kathy Acker and even Derek Jarman, whose period films early on have identical energy to the period section of this.
Also sidenote, Philip Glass was not only friends with Constance but composed a soundtrack to the book???? She helped him compose Satyagraha a few years later??? Unbelievable
The novel is technically composed of five short books that were written and published over the course of 3 years, and it's clear at what point Constance DeJong stops giving a shit about writing like her contemporaries and just starts letting loose and having fun with genre and form. Very neat and fun if a lil bit back-heavy, and a lot of it feels like a clear influence on Kathy Acker and even Derek Jarman, whose period films early on have identical energy to the period section of this.
Also sidenote, Philip Glass was not only friends with Constance but composed a soundtrack to the book???? She helped him compose Satyagraha a few years later??? Unbelievable
November 22, 2018
Would’ve been five stars except for the looong boring passage. The way this book was written made me feel
Like I was reading something a me from another universe wrote. What I’m trying to say is it really made sense to me even though it was hard to follow at points. Great read. Existential
Like I was reading something a me from another universe wrote. What I’m trying to say is it really made sense to me even though it was hard to follow at points. Great read. Existential
September 23, 2019
Из первого сезона книг от No Kidding Press Современная Любовь стала моим фаворитом (да простит меня Лив Стрёмквист).
Обложка и верстка действительно прекрасны. Об этом мне сказали даже мои друзья с обсессивно-компульсивным расстройством, а они очень чутко реагируют на хоршую верстку. Не знаю как у вас, но у меня было легкое ощущение советской стилизации от обложки, но потом я выяснила, что так же была оформлена оригинальная обложка. Ее лаконичность покоряет.
Про текст и перевод скажу только, что в Современной Любви все сделано с любовью. Язык первода лёгок и натурален, нет ощущения "налета иностранности", одно удовольствие, а не чтение. Структура романа с одной стороны необычная и креативная, а с другой довольна типичная для постмодернистских романов.
Мне кажется, что именно такой и является любовь в 2019 (плюс минус десяток лет): она резкая и запутанная, для себя или для другой/другого, она меняет свой окрас в зависимости от времени года или длительности отношений... Современная Любовь создана для ощущений, ее ну нужно пытаться понять и описать в линейном виде, ее надо выпить залпом. Раз! и тебе хорошо, а потом на уследующее утро еще дополнительные ощущения. Она не проходит незаметно, эта Современная Любовь.
Обложка и верстка действительно прекрасны. Об этом мне сказали даже мои друзья с обсессивно-компульсивным расстройством, а они очень чутко реагируют на хоршую верстку. Не знаю как у вас, но у меня было легкое ощущение советской стилизации от обложки, но потом я выяснила, что так же была оформлена оригинальная обложка. Ее лаконичность покоряет.
Про текст и перевод скажу только, что в Современной Любви все сделано с любовью. Язык первода лёгок и натурален, нет ощущения "налета иностранности", одно удовольствие, а не чтение. Структура романа с одной стороны необычная и креативная, а с другой довольна типичная для постмодернистских романов.
Мне кажется, что именно такой и является любовь в 2019 (плюс минус десяток лет): она резкая и запутанная, для себя или для другой/другого, она меняет свой окрас в зависимости от времени года или длительности отношений... Современная Любовь создана для ощущений, ее ну нужно пытаться понять и описать в линейном виде, ее надо выпить залпом. Раз! и тебе хорошо, а потом на уследующее утро еще дополнительные ощущения. Она не проходит незаметно, эта Современная Любовь.
September 8, 2017
Damn. An "influence" on Acker is right. Is this book not talked about or am I just an idiot?
The part with the naval battles was my favourite.
The part with the naval battles was my favourite.
March 26, 2021
Great fun to read while high
February 14, 2024
Felt like I was listening to a manic person ramble on while in a state of psychosis. HOWEVER this book isn’t supposed to read like a book and is supposed to be viewed as an art; in that sense I found appreciation for it. What is a “book story” and “why” do we put a parameter on them anyways? Would re-read to try and get more out of it; I can see this book being able to be read multiple times while getting new meaning out of it each time.
May 29, 2024
ebbs and flows but mostly flows and the flowing is so heat
July 10, 2024
I bought this book a while ago, and I was reminded of it when I saw Constance DeJong’s name in the end credits of a great Joan Jonas short I saw at MoMa (Double Lunar Dogs! some beautiful lofi digital images relating to collective memory! but I digress). Once I started reading it I couldn’t stop, my mind was in sync with DeJong’s, she’d jump from character to character and era to era, go back to her initial story, repeat a previous passage word for word; my thoughts were floating freely with hers. It’s an experiential read.
December 18, 2024
I have no idea what just happened, 4 stars!
“We walked upside down, hand in hand. We went to bed at dawn and got up at darkling. We went to bed at dawn, at midnight, at all hours. We lived glued to the ceiling. We lived at marble heat.
We lived riveted to the depths, our skins smoked to the color of gray by fumes of love.
We circled slowly and fixedly over the heads and shoulders of the world below. What was life on solid earth to us who were decapitated and forever joined at the genitals? Life was a perpetual fuck. Life was Scorpio conjunction Mars, conjunction Venus. And the grand conjunction was every time we were together, every way we could—at the genitals, at the ass, at the mouth, from above, sideways, below."
“We walked upside down, hand in hand. We went to bed at dawn and got up at darkling. We went to bed at dawn, at midnight, at all hours. We lived glued to the ceiling. We lived at marble heat.
We lived riveted to the depths, our skins smoked to the color of gray by fumes of love.
We circled slowly and fixedly over the heads and shoulders of the world below. What was life on solid earth to us who were decapitated and forever joined at the genitals? Life was a perpetual fuck. Life was Scorpio conjunction Mars, conjunction Venus. And the grand conjunction was every time we were together, every way we could—at the genitals, at the ass, at the mouth, from above, sideways, below."
February 19, 2023
tiresome. made me want to leave new york. i should’ve read it alongside the philip glass waltz
October 6, 2024
3.5! This book had me at "the dilemma of being a 27-year old broke female loser who's told by the culture that she's free to say do anything I want." I saw that on the back cover & was sold, being a 27-year old broke female loser myself.
This is experimental literature. If you go into this expecting a linear, grounding book you won't like it. If you go into it ready to feel the way you would at a modern art museum, you just might. (hence the title I guess.)
I was lost a few times, but when I was oriented I was having a great time. And even when I was lost, it was in a wandering-around-a-random-neighborhood kind of way, like I was lost but I was in awe at Christmas lights. Through it all, the surprising connectedness of the characters was a thread helping me through some of the "wtf is happening" moments.
That said, I’d probably only recommend it to about 3 people, lol.
I'm so fascinated by the mini army of experimental female writers hailing from the '70s Lower East Side art scene. (Cookie Mueller’s Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black was one of my top reads last year.💘)
Kathy Acker might be next on the list, though I’ve been a bit intimidated to dive into her work (I actually own a book called The Complete Fear of Kathy Acker, lol). Maybe Modern Love is just the gateway drug I needed! Stay tuned!
This is experimental literature. If you go into this expecting a linear, grounding book you won't like it. If you go into it ready to feel the way you would at a modern art museum, you just might. (hence the title I guess.)
I was lost a few times, but when I was oriented I was having a great time. And even when I was lost, it was in a wandering-around-a-random-neighborhood kind of way, like I was lost but I was in awe at Christmas lights. Through it all, the surprising connectedness of the characters was a thread helping me through some of the "wtf is happening" moments.
That said, I’d probably only recommend it to about 3 people, lol.
I'm so fascinated by the mini army of experimental female writers hailing from the '70s Lower East Side art scene. (Cookie Mueller’s Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black was one of my top reads last year.💘)
Kathy Acker might be next on the list, though I’ve been a bit intimidated to dive into her work (I actually own a book called The Complete Fear of Kathy Acker, lol). Maybe Modern Love is just the gateway drug I needed! Stay tuned!
January 28, 2025
maybe i just didn’t get it
March 9, 2025
An absolute roller coaster of a narrative. Some paragraphs really stuck with me, but one too many didn’t
More like 3.5
More like 3.5
March 11, 2024
dark and quirky..
December 12, 2024
It’s a deliciously weird book. The first half really sucked me in and the second half had me pretty confused at times but De Jong has such an intriguing voice you just keep reading. You’re kinda like “what the hell, sure”.
August 7, 2023
It was honestly so bizarre reading this book. I was confused for so much of the middle and end, but there were moments of pure clarity that made reading through long, disorienting passages worth it. I would recommend it to a very select few, definitely not something for every reader.
October 18, 2025
Originally started this in 2023, put it down never finished. Re started and finished. I know understand what every person was trying to do in my creative non fiction classes but failing miserably to accomplish well. Important book and glad I finally read it.
October 22, 2020
This book reads like a fever dream, in a good way.
When I started reading Modern Love I was trying so hard to understand what character was narrating and who that character was talking about and when in the sequence of the novel that particular scene was set. I could not figure it out.
When I let go of trying to gain clarity I began to understand. The slippery use of ‘I’ can be confusing but I interpreted the ‘I’ as a character in itself while also being all the other characters too.
De Jong changes narrators like a sleight of hand and it is so seamless you often don’t notice when it has happened, on one page Charlotte may be talking about Roderigo and the next he is talking about her.
My interpretation blended all characters together, they were all the elusive unnamed narrator at one point in her life, and I came to this conclusion as all the characters do narrate the novel at one point or another.
All the characters are also all of her lovers at some stages, or all the characters are one of her lovers and different stages of their relationship.
Yes I didn’t understand every page but what I do know is that it is art more than it is a novel and you become an audience witnessing a whirlwind of scenes when you read this book.
When I started reading Modern Love I was trying so hard to understand what character was narrating and who that character was talking about and when in the sequence of the novel that particular scene was set. I could not figure it out.
When I let go of trying to gain clarity I began to understand. The slippery use of ‘I’ can be confusing but I interpreted the ‘I’ as a character in itself while also being all the other characters too.
De Jong changes narrators like a sleight of hand and it is so seamless you often don’t notice when it has happened, on one page Charlotte may be talking about Roderigo and the next he is talking about her.
My interpretation blended all characters together, they were all the elusive unnamed narrator at one point in her life, and I came to this conclusion as all the characters do narrate the novel at one point or another.
All the characters are also all of her lovers at some stages, or all the characters are one of her lovers and different stages of their relationship.
Yes I didn’t understand every page but what I do know is that it is art more than it is a novel and you become an audience witnessing a whirlwind of scenes when you read this book.
July 31, 2019
Вперёд авторки хочу хвалить переводчицу и верстальщицу.
Перевод незаметный, даёт читать; возможно, 40 лет с выхода оригинала сыграли тут на руку: мы в тысяче других произведений обжили конец семидесятых, русский оброс нужным словарём. Даже если простота — не заслуга Мороз, она поработала хорошим медиумом между языком книги и русским 2019 года.
Страницы ограничивают текст по его собственным законам, верстка работает на композицию, особенно заметно в первой части.
В работе Де Жонг я не нашёл ничего переусложненного. Роман не сумбурный, просто считает правильным строить экспозицию из эмоциональной части романа. Книга из 1977-го ничего не переворачивает, мне просто приятно, что она есть и говорит о мужчинах и женщинах так, как говорит.
Перевод незаметный, даёт читать; возможно, 40 лет с выхода оригинала сыграли тут на руку: мы в тысяче других произведений обжили конец семидесятых, русский оброс нужным словарём. Даже если простота — не заслуга Мороз, она поработала хорошим медиумом между языком книги и русским 2019 года.
Страницы ограничивают текст по его собственным законам, верстка работает на композицию, особенно заметно в первой части.
В работе Де Жонг я не нашёл ничего переусложненного. Роман не сумбурный, просто считает правильным строить экспозицию из эмоциональной части романа. Книга из 1977-го ничего не переворачивает, мне просто приятно, что она есть и говорит о мужчинах и женщинах так, как говорит.
February 11, 2022
The prose itself was very easy to ready - beautiful, lyrical and swept you up and carried you along.
It was difficult at times to follow the narrative, and I feel this was both a charm and a curse. At points I understood that it wasn't meant to 'make sense' in the traditional sense. I particularly liked the way she rewrote episodes, iterations and at times passages almost word-for-word. Brilliant. Just like the way a mind can truly operate.
Other times I did lose track as it moved across time periods and locations. At the end, however, I did enjoy that it somewhat came back together and I was reminded of the setup at the start.
I can see how this is described as 'genre-defying'. I don't think it's a book for everyone. But I am very glad I read it.
It was difficult at times to follow the narrative, and I feel this was both a charm and a curse. At points I understood that it wasn't meant to 'make sense' in the traditional sense. I particularly liked the way she rewrote episodes, iterations and at times passages almost word-for-word. Brilliant. Just like the way a mind can truly operate.
Other times I did lose track as it moved across time periods and locations. At the end, however, I did enjoy that it somewhat came back together and I was reminded of the setup at the start.
I can see how this is described as 'genre-defying'. I don't think it's a book for everyone. But I am very glad I read it.
September 8, 2022
“”S-E-X. That’s what sells. Always has, always will.” And yet, on a smaller scale, it was the veil of mystery that engaged the people’s imagination.”
Obsessed with the narrative in this book.
Obsessed with the narrative in this book.
October 4, 2019
Constance DeJong, according to Chris Kraus, was one of Kathy Acker's biggest rivals. Although less prolific with more "mainstream" experimental fiction, DeJong easily matches Acker's talents through a style of her own that is both masterful and bewitching. DeJong focuses on two lovers in the present, and then writes about a queen of the past in the manner of historical fiction. I typically don't enjoy reading that type of thing, but DeJong convinces you her words are worthy of your time. As a slow reader, this was also relatively fast to get through.
February 22, 2020
Postmodern literature and I are usually tight because creative frameworks and artful sentences thrill me, but this was repetitive and meandering. There are occasional rewards but the dullness weighted me.
July 4, 2017
Ugly Duckling Press has reissued this... A bit of a ramble with some bright spots. It captures a time and a mood. I breezed through it, and it made me sort of sad.
December 29, 2018
I enjoyed this book until the language changed halfway through. I ended up not being able to finish it, as I lost interest due to the change in verbiage.
Read
January 4, 2023Dreamy
January 13, 2021
I’ve read Theatre de l’absurde and I had no idea what was going on in this book.
January 2, 2024
Just wait until she turns into queen elizabeth
August 20, 2023
I really loved this book. The characters shape shift evolve from one another sometimes midway down a page. The settings and which character is speaking become less important as the back and forth nature of their relationship is described. I understood it to mean that you can see a little bit about yourself in other people — theres a passage in the book where she writes, "i actually live through my subjects, the things that interest me, and as a result it's almost like living many lives instead of just one. It's not totally fantasy."
The book was whimsical, playful, and engaging. I especially loved the passages with repetition, like when Charlotte is drafting the letter to Rodrigo in many permutations. So relatable for someone else who overthinks and tries to be a precise communicator. I love the draft she moves forward with: "This whole situation is ridiculous" its a very gestural novel and it certainly leaves an impression
The book was whimsical, playful, and engaging. I especially loved the passages with repetition, like when Charlotte is drafting the letter to Rodrigo in many permutations. So relatable for someone else who overthinks and tries to be a precise communicator. I love the draft she moves forward with: "This whole situation is ridiculous" its a very gestural novel and it certainly leaves an impression
October 1, 2025
Постмодернистская нарративная проза всегда требует к себе особого отношения - стоит отбросить все принципы и условностями, к которым вы привыкли в литературе. Тут нет привычных завязки, кульминации и конца. Все временные линии, как слоеный торт, как калейдоскоп сплетаются воедино, требуя к себе повышенного внимания. И тогда окажется, что 400-летняя история от Елизаветы 1 и войны с Испанией - лишь прелюдия к истории Родриго - неудачника из Нью-Йорка, с разбившимися вдребезги амбициями. И все персонажи книги - танцовщица, чудак из подсобки, евреи-сефарды и даже доктор Стрендж - подсвечивают ту самую современную любовь между главными героями.
Некоторые моменты отзывались довольно болезненно, особенно про конфликты в паре.
Оказывается в 80-х Констанс де Жонг переработала «Современную любовь» в радиоспектакль, а Филипп Гласс (да-да, тот самый) создал композицию Mad Rush по мотивам произведения. Мелодия есть на просторах Яндекс.музыки, советую послушать для полного погружения.
Некоторые моменты отзывались довольно болезненно, особенно про конфликты в паре.
Оказывается в 80-х Констанс де Жонг переработала «Современную любовь» в радиоспектакль, а Филипп Гласс (да-да, тот самый) создал композицию Mad Rush по мотивам произведения. Мелодия есть на просторах Яндекс.музыки, советую послушать для полного погружения.
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