Inspirations

Writers and books that help describe the imaginative, political, absurd, and time-bent qualities Carmen returns to on the page.

Favorite piece: 1984

Orwell models work that can be imaginative and literary without losing its political charge or its connection to class and public life.

Favorite piece: The Book of Disquiet

Pessoa's attention to dreams, ambiguity, and inward experience points toward a private world that can still become a home for the reader.

Favorite piece: The People of Paper

Plascencia shows how absurdity can feel real rather than detached, keeping experimental structures tied to personhood and conflict.

Favorite piece: Einstein's Dreams

Lightman's flash-fiction treatment of time encourages a slower pace and a flexible relationship to chronology that can still move narrative forward.