Novels

These are not the Words

By Amanda West Lewis early 60’s

These are not the Words is a lyrical portrayal of growing up in Stuyvesant Town and attending Friends Seminary and then having that idyllic childhood disrupted on the magnitude of being cast out of the Garden of Eden.  Missy, the poetic protagonist, has two hip parents and, shades of Candide, all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. She and her best friend Corky love school, (love French!), read Nancy Drew, and go to the Automat. 

Missy’s formal name is Miranda, and she does fancy herself akin to Prospero’s daughter in The Tempest.  A photographer by day and a jazz drummer by night, Missy’s own father emerges as magical and charismatic, waking her up in the middle of the night to whisk her off to Manhattan’s late-night music scene where she is greeted like a princess by legendary jazz icons. He takes her to Coney Island where he opens a copy of Coney Island of the Mind and reads Ferlinghetti to her and the seagulls.  He calls her “an angelheaded hipster.”

Lurking in this endearing dad, is something scary.   He has sudden bursts of temper, and little by little his behavior becomes too erratic to bear.  When Missy’s parents first met, he said, “I’m a journalist studying to be a junkie.”  At the time, it was a joke.  Now he is a danger to his wife and child.  Faced with so many challenges all at once, Missy becomes a more remarkable and complex person. The Tempest becomes a way for her to process her own journey from magic to reality.