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David Liss scores big with a novel of
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5/25/2000

D

avid Liss realizes that, on
the surface, a work of his-
torical fiction may find
more readers in tweed jack-
ets than roller-blades. "I started out
with the problem of a novel about
18th-century finance," Liss explains
during a phone interview on a break
from crisscrossing the country on a
media blitz promoting his book, A
Conspiracy of Paper (Random House;
$25). "You could
take everybody
r in the world who
would be excited
by that idea and
fit them in my
hotel room —
with room to
spare."
Apparently,
the publishing
world was not as
worried when it
read Liss' manu-
script. The book,
a murder mystery
set amidst the
backdrop of the
first stock market
crash in the
English-speaking
world, set off a
frenzy every
freshman novelist
dreams about.
After an intense four-day auction,
Random House purchased the novel
for a staggering $725,000 and, as if
icing was needed on this cake,
Miramax has optioned it for a movie.
Liss, who received a master's degree
in English from Georgia State
University and is currently a doctoral
candidate in English at Columbia
University, hasn't let all the media
hype surrounding his novel go to his
head. "When exciting things happen

Benyamin Cohen is a staffwriter
at our sister. ublication, the
Atlanta Jewish Times.

to other people," he candidly explains,
"it seems really crazy and interesting.
And then when it happens to you, it's
just your life."
The author's highly lauded debut
work of fiction is really a period piece
housing a murder mystery. While
working on his dissertation, Liss decid-
ed he want to write a novel. "Then I
had to figure out what I wanted to
write about," he explains. "I became
interested by the idea of trying to turn
my academic research into a story."
Inspiration came in the form of the

David Liss:
"My family comes
from England,
so I was interested
in how Jews
lived then, when
ews were a kind
embodiment
the financial .
uncertainty
the time."

autobiography of Daniel Mendoza, a
Jewish boxer born in 1764. Liss came
across the book while working on a
chapter for his dissertation on the rep-
resentation of Jews in 18th-century lit-
erature as embodiments of finance.
Liss took certain aspects of
Mendoza's life and created Benjamin
Weaver, a Jewish thug who tracks
down debtors and thieves. In the