For Torrey Peters, Beauty Is a Perpetual State of Discovery
The novelist examines the arresting allure of 'Euphoria''s Hunter Schafer, Chekhov characters, and Instagram art.
By
Torrey Peters; Photograph By Camila Falquez; Styling By Miguel Enamorado
May 13, 2021
Camila Falquez
At certain moments in my life, I have stumbled upon a beauty so extreme, I have stepped back in alarm. There are some people who I register not so much with the mind as with the body—I turn a corner in Manhattan and it feels like I’ve come across a polar bear. Of course, it’s not just people: I might round the top of a mountain pass and get hit with a vista that leaves me gasping, the air gone suddenly thin. A whale surfaces, a plume rises, and the world becomes holy.