What i loved
What I loved is a novel by the American writer Siri Hustvedt , published in London in 2003. It was published in German by Rowohlt Verlag that same year . He tells in the first person from the perspective of Leo Hertzberg, an art historian living in New York . In the course of the first part, you learn that Hertzberg was born in Berlin in 1930 and grew up there on Mommsenstrasse. In 1935 he emigrated with his parents, first via Paris to London , and later to New York.
The author has lived in New York since 1978. In a discussion on 9/11 on September 11, 2001 , she described New York as "as much an idea as an actual place".
The book follows the relationship between Leo and Bill Wechsler and the close ties between their two families. The focus is on the subjects of love, loss, art and psychology .
Summary
What I Loved begins in 1975 with a description of a painting of a naked woman with the artist's shadow above it. The protagonist of the novel, the art historian Leon Hertzberg (Leo), bought the painting and some time later became friends with the artist, Bill Wechsler. Bill is still unknown at this point, but becomes more and more famous as the novel progresses, not only in the New York art scene, but also in Europe. He is married to Lucille, an overly sensitive poet. Leo's wife is the English scholar Erica Stein; her parents are also from Berlin; she was born on November 7, 1941 in New York. The two couples become friends and move into the same block of flats. Erica and Lucille become pregnant during the same period and each have a son in August 1977 - Matthew and Mark. The first part of the novel shows the quiet, domestic life of the two families, told from Leo's perspective. Bill eventually breaks up with Lucille after starting a relationship with young Violet Blom. Violet is depicted in the painting mentioned at the beginning of the novel.
The beginning of the second part of the novel seems like a bang: Leo and Erica's son, Matthew, suddenly dies as a result of a boat accident. From this point on, the narrative pace accelerates. Leo is inconsolable because of the death of his son and loses the equally inconsolable Erica, who moves away. A close but problematic relationship develops between Leo and Bill Wechsler's son Mark. Mark, who tends to be dishonest, repeatedly abuses his father's trust until Leo realizes that Mark is probably incapable of affection.
Mark becomes friends with Teddy Giles, a performance and installation artist whose art seems to have only one goal: to shock. Bill eventually dies, and Leo tries to find and rescue Mark, who is lost in Teddy Giles' scene. Finally, Leo confesses his love to Violet. She tells him that they could spend a night together, but that she will move away. He refuses and goes back to his apartment alone.
A minor character in the novel, Lazlo Finkelman, moves in circles similar to Teddy Giles and Mark, but with different intentions and values. At the end of the novel, Leo finds consolation while playing with his young son.
reception
During that time , Michael Naumann gave the novel very positive reviews. He describes it as an "educated and artfully constructed" novel and praises it, among other things, for its straightforward style, "its unobtrusive self-reflection, its microscopically accurate description of the emotional movements of its characters, and its sometimes pebbly cool depiction of the life needs of these five people".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Siri Hustvedt, "Siri Hustvedt raconte le 11 septembre" , booksmag , 11th September 2009 (English / French)
- ↑ See e.g. Robert Birnbaum, Author of What I Loved talks with Robert Birnbaum , Identity Theory , 6 May 2003 (English)
- ↑ Michael Naumann: Love passes, mourning secretly wins In: Die ZEIT from April 18, 2008; Retrieved November 16, 2013.