Mothers

Feminist philosophy and family memoirs go hand in hand in this new collection of essays by Siri Hustvedt, a masterful exploration of how many experiences we take for granted and that define us as human beings are not as unalterable as we think, especially family or gender relations, abuses of power or the influence of the environment on who we are, delving into her own personal memory, her formative years and her experience as a writer. Hustvedt once again displays an extraordinary gift for communication and interdisciplinary knowledge in this volume that moves effortlessly between the stories of her mother, her grandmother and her daughter but also through those of her "artistic mothers", Jane Austen, Emily Brontë and Louise Bourgeois, and from there to broader concepts, such as the experience of motherhood in a culture shaped by misogyny and the fantasies of paternal authority. It is, in short, a scholar's journey into urgent questions about family love and hate, human prejudice and cruelty, and the transformative power of art. Feminism and family memoirs go hand in hand in another brilliant collection of essays by Siri Hustvedt.