Hustvedt’s growing interest in gestation and the placenta got me thinking about the notion of nourishment – and the work of political philosopher Corine Pelluchon, whose book Nourishment I have written about. The story, What I Loved, begins when Leo, an art historian professor in NYC sees a painting at a gallery and ends up purchasing it and making a point to meet its creator. From that beginning the reader meets the artist Bill and begins to know a little of his work. The plot is a recording of the history of the friendship between these two men, the art that surrounds them in the New York Art scene, the women they marry and the two boys, one each that are the product of these two couples.

Siri Hustvedt - Wikipedia Siri Hustvedt - Wikipedia

It doesn’t often happen, but this book really hit an emotional chord with me; days after I put it down, it kept on haunting me. The story itself is about a mix of family situations, relationship problems, moments of hapiness and despair, but also death and psychosis, and at a certain point it even evolves into an outright horror story. That sounds a bit trite but Hustvedts characters are people of flesh and blood, with big and small yearnings, very own psychological mindsets, uncertainties and wrong assumptions, and with very divers reactions on tragic events. They go through endearing, tender moments, but also through absolutely horrible experiences. The emotional load sometimes is so raw and realistic that the reading gets on the verge of the bearable (at one point it reminded me of Elena Ferrante’s early novels). This month World Book Club talks to award-winning writer Siri Hustvedt about her novel What I Loved, a troubling, often turbulent tale of love, art, friendship and heartbreak set amidst the darkly flamboyant New York art scene of the late twentieth century.I enjoyed the read as it is very well written, the plot is dark in places and there twist and turns in the second half of the novel to keep the reader interested.. I didn't however connect with the emotion of the book or feel any real satisfaction with the conclusion of the story. In some cultures, faeces are just a joke and in other cultures they’re considered really dangerous. So, Douglas is not saying that we all share the same kinds of pollution concerns, but she’s saying that pollution concerns exist in all cultures. And the blur, the mush – especially the bodily mush we all experience, the fluids or substances that cross over the thresholds of the body – are particularly liable to being considered dangerous. Andrew Roe in the San Francisco Chronicle had criticized several aspects of the novel including the author's "repetitive use of time transitions", but concluded that the novel is "another accomplished performance from…a writer of undeniable talent and someone from whom we can expect even better things in the future. [5]"

What I Loved Quotes by Siri Hustvedt - Goodreads What I Loved Quotes by Siri Hustvedt - Goodreads

Why Goya" published in Spanish as "Francisco de Goya o los equivos." Fundacion Amigos Museo del Prado (2008) The work follows the relationship between Leo and artist, Bill Wechsler and the close ties between each of the characters' families. It explores themes of love, loss, art and psychology. Freud's Playground: Some Thoughts on the Art and Science of Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity." The 39th Annual Sigmund Freud Lecture. The Sigmund Freud Foundation, Vienna. May 6, 2011. YouTube. Another of Bill’s works was a fairy tale-like project called “The Changeling.” How did this piece play with the concepts of doubles and mirror images, and the idea of ‘substitution?’ Leo thinks about it years later regarding Mark when he remembers the stolen child in a glass coffin. Discuss this imagery, as well as Bill’s series of doors and letters. We must all allow ourselves the fantasy of projection from time to time, a chance to clothe ourselves in the imaginary gowns and tails of what has never been and never will be. This gives some polish to our tarnished lives, and sometimes we may choose one dream over another, and in the choosing find some respite from ordinary sadness. After all, we, none of us, can ever untangle the knot of fictions that make up that wobbly thing we call a self.”The Drama of Perception: Looking at Morandi." Sunday Lectures at the Met. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. September 21, 2008. [ citation needed] Three Emotional Stories: Reflections on Memory, the Imagination, Narrative and the Self. Neuropsychoanalysis 13 (2), 2011 (with peer review: Vittorio Gallese, dept. of neuroscience, University of Parma and Richard Kessler, Adults and Children with Learning Disabilities, Inc. New York)

Art and soul | Books | The Guardian Art and soul | Books | The Guardian

Is it possible for a marriage to survive the death of a child? Discuss how Erica and other characters handle the grief of Matt’s death. How are parents to deal with the heartache of raising troubled children? JULIENNE VAN LOON: Absolutely. And adults too, right? Because play in that social space – the space between – is a lifelong essential. These ideas really come through in your essay “Both-And”. Christian Knirsch, "In a Time Warp: The Issue of Chronology in Siri Hustvedt's The Blindfold," Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 11 (2010): (no pagination). Novelist and essayist Hustvedt (Mysteries of the Rectangle) gathers 32 pieces (most previously published), written over the past six years, that she says are linked by an abiding curiosity about Continue reading » Scholars Leo and his wife Erica admire, then befriend, artist Bill and his first and second wives. Their respective sons Matthew and Mark grow up together until the first in a series of tragedies strikes; a calamity which devastates the whole community and changes everyone’s lives forever.

Hubert Zapf, "Narrative, Ethics, and Postmodern Art in Siri Hustvedt's What I Loved", in Astrid Erll, Herbert Grabes, Ansgar Nünning, et al The Dissemination of Values through Literature and Other Media Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2008, pp. 51-63