Peter Leroy, by Eric Kraft

About the Work

	.....	he Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is one large work of fiction composed of many interconnected parts. Its parts are the memoirs and collected works of a fictional character, Peter Leroy, who tells an alternative version of his life story; explores the effect of imagination on perception, memory, hope, and fear; holds a fun-house mirror to scenes of life in the United States; ruminates upon the nature of the universe and the role of human consciousness within it; and prods and probes the painful world of time and place in search of the niches where hilarity hides.	.....	A BIT OF THE PERSONAL HISTORY THEME SONG, "INDIAN SUMMER," PERFORMED BY SIDNEY BECHET

COMPONENTS | REVIEWS | AUTHOR’S STATEMENT | COMPLETE SITE CONTENTS | WHAT’S NEW?

The author . . .

. . . of all of this (and “all of this” includes the sentimental cynic Peter Leroy and his webmaster, Mark Dorset) is Eric Kraft. You can reach him at eric-kraft@post.harvard.edu.

Remember:

From the ruins and the dissolution of real reality something very different will emerge, not a copy but an answer: fictional reality.
Mario Vargas Llosa, The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary

The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogues, settings, and businesses portrayed in it are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The front page of this site was designed by Martha and Margot Glynn, using an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions. The aerocycle resembles the one that Peter Leroy built in 1960 (working from plans that he found in his grandfather’s moldering old copy of the August 1931 issue of Impractical Craftsman Magazine) and flew from New York to New Mexico, but the boy at the controls doesn’t particularly resemble Peter Leroy—except, perhaps, for the smile.

“Patriot” Radio, designed in 1940 by Norman Bel Geddes (American, 1893-1958) Manufacturer: Emerson Radio and Phonograph Corporation (New York, New York) Catalin John C. Waddell Collection, image from the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.

“Indian Summer” written by Victor Herbert, recorded in New York City on February 5, 1940. Sidney Bechet, clarinet, soprano sax; Sonny White, piano; Charlie Howard, guitar; Wilson Myers, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums.

All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.