Siri Hustvedt
The Blazing World
Presented as a collection of texts compiled by a scholar years after Burden's death, the story unfolds through extracts from her notebooks, reviews and articles, as well as testimonies from her children, her lover, a dear friend, and others more distantly connected to her. Each account is different, however, and the mysteries multiply. One thing is clear: Burden's involvement with the last of her 'masks' turned into a dangerous psychological game that ended with the man's bizarre death.
This is a polyphonic tour de force from the internationally acclaimed author of What I Loved, an intricately conceived, diabolical puzzle that explores the way prejudice, fame, money and desire influence our perceptions of one another. Emotionally intense, intellectually rigorous, ironic and playful, The Blazing World is as gripping as it is thought-provoking.
Audio Rights
UnavailableHelen Manders manages the translation rights for The Blazing World
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[A] thought-provoking new novel . . . This psychological and gripping tale addresses the lengths we go to in the quest for appreciation, and how it can ultimately lead to our downfall.
Irish TatlerFull Review
Another meditation on art and identity, in which a female artist hides behind male ‘masks’ who exhibit their work as her own.
Guardian
Inventive in its telling as it is in its concept.
Independent
Full Review
The Bookbag Full Review
Vogue
Booklist (starred review) Full Review
Indendent Full Review
Spectator
Hustvedt’s labyrinth of intricately woven chapters irradiate with the callousness, misogyny and intellectual arrogance of the art world, while love and hope hover in the background.
Herald Sun, Melbourne Full Review
Manly Daily, Sydney Full Review
The Saturday Age, Melbourne Full Review
Publishers Weekly Full Review