For anyone who may be interested and can read Spanish, in 2011 Mexican author Elena Poniatowska published a historical novel, ‘Leonora’, about Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington. The novel won the Premio Biblioteca Breve prize. Poniatowska talks about the book here, and there’s a detailed review in English here that makes me wish very hard for a translation.

I find especially interesting the revelation in the review that “Celtic mythology was Leonora’s only religion,” thanks to “the wisdom of her Irish grandmother and her beloved Irish Nanny (who understood Leonora’s clairvoyant gifts), both of whom instilled in her love for all Celtic and for the Sidhes who would keep her company and find their way into her paintings.” I had wondered if the otherworldly beings in her paintings were in some way seen or believed in by her — they have the look of genuine acquaintance, as do her friend Remedios Varo’s.

I don’t know, of course, the extent of Carrington’s belief or how she interpreted her experiences and her own work. I would certainly like to know. It’s rather frustrating that the English-speaking world has paid her so little attention.