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Foreword
Death is what keeps me up at night, and so death is what I
write about. In fact, it's only one of the horrors that keeps
me awake, that and loneliness, grief, separation, and, well,
that's enough for now. We're dying and we don't want to be.
Everything we care about slips away from us, everyone leaves.
That's the awful sadness at the center of our existence.
That's what I believe. And I believe it is our struggle
against this brutal fact, against the reality of our brief
lives and our immense losses that constitutes the beauty of
life. So even in a book that I thought was going to be about
love, I knew that death would creep in. I just didn't know
how.
I started with Laf and set out to write about a marriage in
trouble because only trouble is interesting, and trouble
between partners especially so—there's so much history,
intimacy, so much shared memory involved, so much
vulnerability, so many expectations. What sets the story in
motion is Laf's sense that his dreams are about to become
regrets. That's what keeps him up at night. His anxiety is so
intense that he is willing at first to sacrifice his marriage
in order to pursue this dream of becoming a writer. He leaves
his wife Martha, hurts her terribly, and throws their futures
into chaos. Now I know that in fiction nothing is ever what
it seems. I knew there was more to Laf's story than he was
letting on. I figured I'd be startled by some revelations and
supposed the story would take some turns I had not expected.
Still, I assumed that something like this would happen: As a
result of his struggle, a protracted and anguished one, Laf
would come to understand that his place was with Martha, that
he loved and needed her, that he could only reach fulfillment,
artistic or otherwise, with this woman who had shared his
past and loved him dearly. That was the book I thought I would
write.
But then Judi Dubey, a minor character I had assumed, quite
unexpectedly told Laf that she had been a thirteenth-century
Saxon mystic and began to relate a fascinating story of her
past life. I thought, as Laf might have: What an interesting
and curious woman! Neither Laf nor I believed that Judi had
lived before, but then where did these vivid and resonant
details come from? And why does she need to believe this? And
I thought, well, now it will be harder for Laf to get back
home. He's entranced. But that will only make the story more
interesting, his conflict more acute. He'll have to dig
deeper, struggle harder. And his return to his wife will be
all the more compelling. But then Judi discovers she has
advanced cancer.
Part of the joy of writing is discovering what turns up on the
page each day. You live with these people, you care about
their lives, you think more about them than you do about your
own family. Your job is not to judge them, and it is not to
let them off the moral hook. Your job is to witness their
behavior, to hold them responsible for what they do, and to
render justice to their lives.
Writing fiction is a humble art. I write stories knowing that
I have no answers, but lots of questions. I write about what
I don't understand, hoping that in the writing, I'll come to
see what I think. I'll muddle ahead to some insights, knowing
that I will never really come to understanding or wisdom. As
a writer this is how I make sense - try to make some small
sense - of the world and my place in it. The purpose of a
novel, I think, is to say this is what it's like to be a
human being, and this is how it feels. Well, love is what Laf
doesn't understand, so I began this particular story with
Laf trying to figure it out. What is love anyway? Why do
people who love each other hurt each other? And why does
love, which is what sustains us, which always begins with
such hope, so often fail?
—John Dufresne
Discussion
Questions
1. Love Warps the Mind a Little opens with an epigraph
from W. B. Yeats: "But is there any comfort to be found?/
Man is in love and loves what vanishes,/ What more is there to
say?" How does this sentiment pervade the novel? Does Laf
find comfort? Does Judi?
2. Throughout the novel, Laf is writing a story about Dale
and Theresa. How do the elements of that story comment on
Laf's own struggle? Discuss Dale's change of character in
terms of Laf's change of character.
3. Judi and Laf deal imaginatively with their difficult lives.
Laf writes stories; Judi remembers past lives. Discuss the
similarities in these creative endeavors.
4. How does Dufresne perceive his characters, especially the
minor characters like Ronnie, Pozzo, Hervé, Trixie?
Does he offer any insights into their situation and troubles?
Does he treat them sympathetically? If so, how?
5. Throughout the novel, Laf finds himself powerfully
attracted to certain women; Judi, Pauline, strangers in an
airport. What do you make of his behavior? Is it
understandable? Consistent with his character?
6. In the novel, Laf compares being in love with writing a
story. How might this be true? In what sense is love a
creative act?
7. On page 236, Laf quotes Judi who says that everyone in
therapy has a love disorder. Discuss this notion that love
or distortions of it are at the source of our emotional
problems. Is this accurate ?
8. What role do the minor characters play in shaping the
story?
9. In the book we see people coping with life and love in a
variety of ways: with therapy, religion, paranoid delusions,
dreams, writing, visualization exercises, drugs. What do
these activities tell us about the human condition? What is
it that makes us human? Our bodies? Our hearts? Our minds?
10. What view of human nature does Love Warps the Mind a
Little seem to express? Does Dufresne suggest a vision
of an ideal world? What might that be?
11. On page 236, Laf makes a distinction between romance and
love. Romance, he seems to say, is an ideal, while love is
real. What do you make of his distinction? Do you agree with
Laf that there is a vast difference between the two? Or is
one a stage of the other?
12. On page 296, Dale has this insight: Every act of loving
affirms the goodness of the lover just because he is capable
of loving and being loved. Discuss this notion of goodness
and self-worth being part of the ability to love. What does
this say about the person who doubts his/her own goodness?
13. Judi tells Laf that to act habitually is to act without
thinking and that the idea of therapy is to shatter patterns
in our life. If you stop a habit you get to start your life.
In light of what she has said, discuss love as change, as
the breaking of habit, as starting over.
14. A first person narrative such as Love Warps the Mind a
Little depends to a large degree on the voice of the
storyteller. In what ways is Laf's voice an engaging and
effective one? How would the story have been different with
a third person narrator?
15. Fathers don't come off very well in the novel. Dale and
Laf never really know their fathers; Judi's dad abandons the
family, and so on. Laf writes of his characters: "My fathers
were either missing or away on business or drunk on their
asses or simply nasty. This wasn't my own father's fault.
Blaise was none of the above. I think I gave them problems
to see what made them tick. Problems were like new clothes
to them. Something to get used to; something to sport around
in. What is it with men?" Well, what is it with men?
Something learned, something inherent? Or is it all a bad
rap? Discuss the influence of the fathers in the novel on
their children.
16. Judi and Laf disagree about the efficacy of the "New Age"
healing she undergoes. This tells us something about the two
characters, of course. In the light of the events of the
novel, is Judi's behavior understandable? Would she have
been better off trusting in science and medical technology?
In what ways, if any, was the alternative treatment
beneficial?
17. What does Laf come to understand about the meaning of his
own life, the meaning of Judi's death? What meaning does
death come to have for Judi?
18. Discuss the different psychological and emotional stages
that Judi passes through in the course of her illness. What
does she learn about herself and her relationship to others?
19. How does the tone of the novel change? What is the
dominant tone of the novel? How does Dufresne keep the novel
from becoming sentimental or maudlin?
20. At the end of the novel, Laf says he wants the shame,
guilt, and regret right there on the surface like a rash.
Why would he want that?
21. Describe Dufresne's style in the novel. How does it
contribute to the novel's effectiveness?
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