The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt

 What a fabulous reading experience this was! On an overarching level it is a sensational critique of cultural misogyny, in particular the insincerity and superficiality of the art world. On a more intimate level it is Harriet “Harry” Burden’s story – middle-aged and widowed she is consumed by rage after what seems to have been a lifelong struggle for recognition on both a personal and a professional level. Now with absolutely nothing to lose she is determined to be “seen” at last by persuading three of her male contemporaries to show her amazing works under their own names and thus discredit the contemporary New York art scene when the new true authorship of the works is revealed. But of course things don’t work out quite how Harry planned. The actual structure of the novel is fabulous in that it purports to be the work of an academic researching Harriet Burden’s claims to the artworks, and as such it is written as a collection of interviews, essays, articles and letters as well as excerpts from Harry’s diaries. I absolutely LOVED it! As I did Hustvedt’s earlier novel, “What I Loved.”