Internationally acclaimed as a novelist, Siri Hustvedt is also highly
regarded as a writer of non-fiction whose insights are drawn from her broad
knowledge in the arts, humanities and sciences. In this trilogy of works
collected in a single volume, Hustvedt brings a feminist, interdisciplinary
perspective to a range of subjects. Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, Susan
Sontag and Knut Ove Knausgaard are among those who come under her scrutiny.
In the book's central essay, she explores the intractable mind-body problem
and in the third section, reflects on the mysteries of hysteria,
synesthesia, memory, perception and the philosophy of Kierkegaard. With
clarity, wit, and passion, she exposes gender bias, upends received ideas
and challenges her reader to think again.