Home › Books › Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays
Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays
by
58/99
Critics' Rating Index
21/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
89/99
Volume of Reviews
37/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
Feminist philosophy meets family memoir in this new essay collection from Siri Hustvedt, an exploration of the shifting borders that define human experience, including boundaries we usually take for granted—between ourselves and others, nature and nurture, viewer and artwork—which turn out to be far less stable than we imagine.Described as "a 21st-century Virginia Woolf" in the Literary Review (UK), Man Booker longlisted Hustvedt displays her expansive intellect and interdisciplinary knowledge in this collection that moves effortlessly between stories of her mother, grandmother, and daughter to artistic mothers, Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, and Lousie Bourgeois, to the broader meanings of maternal in a culture shaped by misogyny and fantasies of paternal authority. Mothers, Fathers, and Others is a polymath's journey into urgent questions about familial love and hate, human prejudice and cruelty, and the transformative power of art. This moving, fierce, and often funny book is finally about the fact that being alive means being in states of constant, dynamic exchange with what is around us, and that the impulse to draw hard and fast conceptual borders where none exist carries serious theoretical and political dangers.
Reviews
"The writer's descriptions of Tillie and her other stoic Scandinavian relatives are vivid and heartbreaking."
"The two books brilliantly capture the joy and pain of motherhood: elation and depression, wonder and weariness, love and hate for the offspring."
"The languages, for the most part, were transmitted orally or in written text."
"Steeped in literature, art, and science, Hustvedt...is a mind-revving investigative thinker and a commanding essayist who stirs the waters, overturns stones, opens curtains, and lifts veils with authority, refinement, and cogency."
"Another outstanding compilation of essays from Hustvedt ..."
"In her typical fashion, Hustvedt pulls from psychoanalysis, philosophy, literature, and art criticism to make brilliant connections among her takes on the world."
"When Hustvedt returns to the idea of what's missing, her writing takes off ..."
"That's not to say that these more memoir-like pieces are lacking in rigor, as she grapples with issues of death, remembrance, ritual and parenthood."
"The standout essays are truly memorable, and for this the collection is worth exploring, and has certainly piqued my interest in Hustvedt's lengthy bibliography."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!