I am a fan of Siri Hustvedt, and particularly of her non-fiction. I especially like that she takes it for granted that there is no difference between the physical and mental, the psychological and the neurological, the mind and body.
In The Shaking Woman, or A History of My Nerves, Hustvedt sets out to discover why her body frequently shakes uncontrollably when she speaks in public. This condition first manifests itself when she gives a eulogy for her father, after years of uneventful speaking engagements.
I was expecting the book to have as its backbone Hustvedt's journey to various medical doctors and psychologists. She describes giving a talk at a university program in Narrative Medicine ("attempts to illuminate the universals of the human condition by revealing the particular") -- I was expecting something like that. Instead, she tries to think through the problem herself, through reading and research. The result is frequently vague or off-topic, with little narrative drive.
In The Shaking Woman, or A History of My Nerves, Hustvedt sets out to discover why her body frequently shakes uncontrollably when she speaks in public. This condition first manifests itself when she gives a eulogy for her father, after years of uneventful speaking engagements.
I was expecting the book to have as its backbone Hustvedt's journey to various medical doctors and psychologists. She describes giving a talk at a university program in Narrative Medicine ("attempts to illuminate the universals of the human condition by revealing the particular") -- I was expecting something like that. Instead, she tries to think through the problem herself, through reading and research. The result is frequently vague or off-topic, with little narrative drive.
No comments:
Post a Comment