Vladimir author Julia May Jonas: ‘We’re imprisoned by our obsessions’

<p>As her debut novel becomes a Netflix series starring Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall, the American author talks about comparisons with Lolita, moving on from #MeToo and problematic authors</p><p>When we meet in&nbsp;a&nbsp;cafe near her&nbsp;Brooklyn apartment, three weeks before the TV adaptation of&nbsp;her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/25/vladimir-by-julia-may-jonas-review-a-scandalous-affair">debut novel Vladimir</a> hits Netflix, Julia May Jonas is feeling an anticipatory “mix of terror, excitement and dread”. The series stars Rachel Weisz as a professor in her 50s obsessed with a younger colleague, Vladimir, played by Leo Woodall, with Sharon Horgan executive producing. Combining hot sex and complex issues, it is bound to spark the kind of online discourse a novelist must avoid lest they be derailed from their next project.</p><p>“I do have to be cautious with putting myself too far out there,” says Jonas, who was active, and very funny, on Twitter until mid-2022, soon after her book came out, at which point she&nbsp;realised that engaging with the reception to her work wasn’t wise. “It’s&nbsp;not like I’m so enlightened. It’s just that I know it’s never enough. If someone tells me they love my book, I’m going to ask: ‘What part? Did it change your life? Is it the best book you’ve ever read?’”<em> </em>she says, laughing. “The ego can never be fulfilled!”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/08/vladimir-author-julia-may-jonas-were-imprisoned-by-our-obsessions">Continue reading...</a>