Land of Allusions

A Memoir of Movement, Meaning, and Reinvention

Land of Allusions chronicles twenty-five years in the life of Andrew Davie—a journey marked by unpredictability, persistence, and moments of hard-won clarity. From the hustle of Times Square to classrooms in Hong Kong, from brief digital romances to life-altering health crises, Davie explores what it means to keep going when the script keeps changing.

With candor, wit, and a gift for unexpected connections, Davie reflects on managing obsessive-compulsive disorder, surviving a ruptured brain aneurysm, and navigating a professional life that spans recruiting, theater, finance, teaching, and a Fulbright fellowship. Along the way, boxing champions, awkward first dates, and pop culture milestones all become part of the narrative—a reminder that meaning often lives in the margins.

Discover a memoir that finds humor in the hard parts and poetry in the detours.

Get your copy of Land of Allusions today and explore a life lived between the lines.

Excerpt from the book

Of all things in life, the most difficult to endure is love unrequited.

—My recollection of the caption for the painting The Smoker by Frans Hals

My name’s Louden, Louden Swain. Last week I turned eighteen. I wasn’t ready for it. I haven’t done anything yet. So I made this deal with myself: this is the year I make my mark.

—Louden Swain, Vision Quest

The following is my analysis of two dating apps I tried on and off from 2014 to 2020.

Louden Swain is the lead character in the novel and film adaptation Vision Quest. In the film, he is a high school wrestler who wants to face off against the best wrestler in the state, Brian Shute. At the same time, Louden and his father provide temporary housing for an artist/drifter named Carla who’s just passing through town. By the end of the film (spoiler alert), Louden has gone on to lose his virgini-ty to Carla and defeat Brian Shute.

Brian Shute is a behemoth who, I believe, had gone undefeated for his entire high school career until wrestling Louden Swain. Certainly, Shute had been undefeated that year. He also looked like he’d been carved from granite. When he first appears in the movie, he’s walking up and down the bleachers of a football stadium while balancing a giant log across his shoulders. Not only does Louden Swain pin him in the movie, but he also uses an under/over throw—which would work maybe one out of every thou-sand attempts. The suspension of disbelief required for this is up there with Rocky Balboa lasting more than thirty seconds against Ivan Drago in Rocky IV.

During filming, Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) told Dolph Lundgren, the actor playing Drago, to actually throw punches. This was a bad idea. Lundgren is six feet five inches tall and a black belt. Stallone end-ed up with a swollen pericardial sac around his heart and had to be rushed to the emergency room by plane. His insurance company thought he was faking it; they said Stallone’s injuries looked like they’d been caused by a head-on collision.

With regard to Vision Quest, I used to watch the movie when I wrestled in high school since it dealt with the two things that most interested me: becoming state champ and losing my virginity to Linda Fiorentino. Sadly, neither happened. By the way, I made it to the New York State private school wres-tling finals my junior year at 119 pounds and lost 6–0—but that’s neither here nor there.