Rebecca Goldstein is the author of The Mind-Body Problem, The Late-Summer Passion of a Woman of Mind, Strange Attractors, Properties of Light: A Novel of Love, Betrayal, and Quantum Physics, and Mazel. A MacArthur Prize Fellow, she is professor of philosophy at Trinity College.
"Clever, observant and nimble. . . . A wicked satire on feminist
fiction. . . . Simultaneously re-examining one of her own favorite
themes, first laid out in The Mind-Body Problem, namely, the
relationship between reason and passion, the intellect and the
hungry soul."--The New York Times
"Goldstein has cleverly constructed a highly imaginative
tale."--Publisher's Weekly
"Immensely ambitious . . . Teems with ideas and provocative
suggestions."--The Washington Post
"Rich historical/psychological thriller . . . Successful blend of
metaphysical suspense and satirical comment."--Chicago Tribune
Clever, observant and nimble. . . . A wicked satire on feminist
fiction. . . . Simultaneously re-examining one of her own favorite
themes, first laid out in The Mind-Body Problem, namely, the
relationship between reason and passion, the intellect and the
hungry soul.--The New York Times
Goldstein has cleverly constructed a highly imaginative
tale.--Publisher's Weekly
Immensely ambitious . . . Teems with ideas and provocative
suggestions.--The Washington Post
Rich historical/psychological thriller . . . Successful blend of
metaphysical suspense and satirical comment.--Chicago
Tribune
Goldstein ( The Mind-Body Problem ; The Late-Summer Passion of a Woman of Mind ) has cleverly constructed a highly imaginative tale that commands close analysis. Hedda, a grotesque, tormented author of angry feminist novels, has exiled herself to a gloomy New England house, where her grim solitude is interrupted only by phone calls from her silly but dangerous sister, Stella. Hedda is writing a Victorian novel, in Henry Jamesian style, about Henry's brother William, the 19th-century psychologist. In the work, William is sent to study two sisters--one a brilliant recluse, the other possibly murderous--with pasts as murky as Hedda's. Characters are mirrored, parallel plots overlap and several dark sisters--gifted with imaginative intellects but viewed as morbidly deviant--are doomed to destruction. Although this book may at times seem an unstructured melange of repeated themes, images and phrases inspired by 19th-century literature, psychology, metaphysics and feminist history, its disjointedness is purposeful and provocative. Readers who persevere will be rewarded by this witty, literary tour de force. (July)
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