A Novelist's Favorite Forgotten Novel | Siri Hustvedt | Big Think

A Novelist's Favorite Forgotten Novel

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Siri Hustvedt recommends an “extraordinary, unusual little book.”

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Siri Hustvedt:

Siri Hustvedt is the author of four novels, a book of poetry, and a number of short stories and essays. She is the author of "The Blindfold" (1992), "The Enchantment of Lily Dahl" (1996), "What I Loved" (2003), and "The Sorrows of an American" (2008).

Hustvedt has had migraines and their accompanying auras since childhood and has long been fascinated by psychoanalysis, neurology, and psychiatry. In recent years, with the explosion of research on the brain, she has become increasingly absorbed by neuroscience. Her most recent book, "The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves" (2010), is a "neurological memoir," both a personal account of Hustvedt’s experience as a patient and an exploration of the ambiguities of diagnosis through the lenses of medical history, neurology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and philosophy.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Question: What’s your favorite rn“forgotten” novel?

Siri Hustvedt: Oh yeah. Well,rn it's not entirely forgotten and for some people, yournknow, it's a very important book. rnBut it is a book that seems to sort of go underwater to come up arnlittle and then fall again. And itrnis Djuna Barnes’s "Nightwood." Thisrnis a book that was published in the '30s. It's a rntiny little book; a dense, poetic little novel. Irn think the current edition still hasrnT.S. Eliot's introduction to it; a very enthusiastic one. rn I have read this book now threerntimes. It is a remarkable littlernbook about passion; sexual passion, also that is sort of living on the rnmarginsrnof a culture. It takes place inrnParis and it's a love story between two women. Andrn there is a character, a character that I love, whosernname is Dr. Matthew O'Connor. He'srna transvestite kind of pseudo-doctor who gives some of the most rnwonderfulrnspeeches in literature. And I, sornwhen I have a chance, I do come out and say, if you haven't read Djuna rnBarnes’ "Nightwood"—I think it's the only book, by the way to recommend,rn by her. I'm not so crazy about the rest of herrnwork. But this is a reallyrnextraordinary, unusual little book. rnAnd it's not my absolutely favorite work of literature, but it's rnonernthat I think people should look at and read more.