Literary Mixtape: Alexander Chee finds a heroine – with Beyoncé's help

When writing his novel set in the Second Empire in France, Alexander Chee wanted to avoid clichés from recent pop culture. A mix of Beyoncé, Azealia Banks and The Knife set just the right mood for a story about the ‘confident, bold, hilarious and sexy’ women of the era

By Alexander Chee for Literary Mixtapes by Electric Literature, part of the Guardian Books Network

• The best books and music pairings: your recommendations
• The Queen of the Night came out on 2 February. Get a copy here

We’ve asked some of our favorite authors to make us a mixtape. This month’s installment is from Alexander Chee, whose new novel, Queen of the Night (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) comes out this week. It’s a novel about “one woman’s rise from pioneer girl to circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned diva in 19th Century Paris,” so yes, Chee’s mixtape includes a healthy dose of both Beyoncé and The Runaways. Put on your headphones, turn up the volume, and read on.

– The editors at Electric Literature

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