The Sorrows of an American
Encyclopedia
The Sorrows of an American is Siri Hustvedt
's fourth novel. It was first published in 2008
and is about a Norwegian American
family and their troubles. The novel is partly autobiographical
in that Hustvedt herself is of Norwegian descent and in that passages from her own deceased father's journal about the Depression
in America and the Pacific theatre of war
during World War II
are scattered through the book.
The Sorrows of an American operates on several time levels and depicts the difficult times of four generations of the fictional Davidsen family. At the core of the novel lies a long-kept family secret which the first person narrator
, a middle-aged psychiatrist
called Erik Davidsen who lives and works in New York
, sets out to unearth together with his sister. However, the novel abounds in subplot
s which focus on the present rather than the past.
and, while going through his copious papers, find a cryptic note written and signed by someone they do not know called Lisa which suggests to them that as a boy back in the 1930s their father was involved in some illicit act and that he has kept his promise never to tell anyone about it. The siblings decide to investigate the matter further, if only half-heartedly at first. For the time being, Erik Davidsen is preoccupied reading his father's journals, which the latter completed only shortly before his demise. For Erik, all this will mean that in the months to come he will not only be haunted by the ghosts of the present but also of the past.
It has been pointed out that none of the characters in The Sorrows of an American leads a carefree, untroubled existence. The narrator himself suffers from a slight form of depression
triggered by his recent divorce, childless state, and subsequent feeling of loneliness
but still finds satisfaction in attempting to cure his patients of the complaints he occasionally recognizes in himself. His sister Inga has had absence seizure
s from childhood and migraine
s all her adult life. What is more, when the novel opens she is being harassed by a female journalist who states her intention to publicize hitherto unknown facts about Inga's deceased husband, a cult author and filmmaker, and who demands that she be co-operative without telling her what exactly she is aiming at or planning to do. Inga's 18-year-old daughter Sonia suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, having witnessed, from the windows of her Manhattan
school, the September 11, 2001 attacks
and the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center
. Lars Davidsen, the long-term patriarch of the family, was a fugueur
.
But also the characters outside the family show neurological symptoms. Whereas the journalist who is harassing Inga only bears an age-old personal grudge against her (of which the latter is unaware) and is out for straightforward revenge, Erik's friend and colleague Bernard Burton, apart from sweating excessively
, has not been able to cope with the fact that Inga is not in love with him and, without her realizing it, has kept a watchful eye on her over the years in a way which might be construed as stalking
. Edie Bly, a former actress who is now impoverished, is a recovering substance abuser who has an illegitimate son by Inga's deceased husband and appears to be in an unstable psychological condition. Finally, the real stalker in the novel, a photographer and installation art
ist called Jeffrey Lane, displays various signs of compulsive behaviour
, for example the urge to document virtually everything in his life by taking photos. He crosses the psychiatrist's path while pursuing his former girlfriend, a Jamaica
n-born beauty who has recently rented, and moved into, the downstairs apartment of Erik's now too large Brooklyn
brownstone
.
Erik Davidsen is immediately drawn towards Miranda, the young woman from Jamaica, and Eglantine, her pre-school daughter by Jeffrey Lane. He soon falls head over heels in love with the dark-skinned woman while at the same time watching what he perceives to be the slow but steady deterioration of his own self. Gently rejected by Miranda, he has enough willpower left to go on a date
with a sexy colleague and, for purely physical reasons, starts an affair with her. As the story progresses, however, he is more and more pulled into the quagmire of events surrounding Miranda, Inga, and himself. At one point he catches a burglar in his empty house at night, is surprised to see it is Lane, confused when the escaping Lane takes a photo of him wearing nothing much but wielding a hammer, and shocked when, months later, he recognizes the image at one of Lane's exhibitions
with a caption saying, Head Doctor Goes Insane.
Most of the mysteries are cleared up in the end. Erik and Inga succeed in tracking down the mysterious—and now dying—Lisa, and it turns out that all those years ago a young Lars Davidsen helped her bury her illegitimate, stillborn
child, in all secrecy, somewhere on his family's farm. The reputation of Inga's deceased husband is not smeared either when the existence of a batch of letters to Edie Bly can be established without doubt but when it turns out at the same time that they have no sensational value because they belong to the realm of fiction
—they are addressed to the character Bly played in one of the author's films rather than Bly the actress and mother of his child. Bernard Burton proves instrumental in procuring the letters without succumbing to the temptation to actually read them, in a chivalric act in which he dresses up as a frightful bag lady
in order not to reveal his identity, a scene which also provides some comic relief
. The conclusion of the novel is a four-page stream-of-consciousness-like recapitulation of the story's images racing through Erik's mind, and the assurance that the characters' fragmented lives will remain that way.
calls it "a radically postmodern novel
that wears its po-mo credentials with unusual grace; even at its strangest moments, it never radiates the chilly alienation that marks, say, the work of Hustvedt's husband, Paul Auster
." For Sylvia Brownrigg
, "the erudite Hustvedt" explores "larger questions of art
and madness
, mind and spirit, and the construction of the self
" through the dialogues of her intellectually-minded characters and the interior monologues
of her narrator. True, little use is made of the vernacular
, which prompts Haley Edwards to state that "Hustvedt writes very well, but her prose has all the flair of your Aunt Olga's dinner rolls. Sometimes Erik says things about the human condition
that are wonderfully perceptive and incredibly poignant, but he seems to say them as if he's observing the human condition, rather than experiencing it himself."
What some critics found disappointing is that "the secrets Inga and Erik pursue don't yield the drama or meaning they have hoped for, suffusing the scenes of revelation with an air of anticlimax. This may be intentional—Hustvedt may be warning us of the folly of hoping for neat resolutions in our explorations of past pains—but it means the narrative slackens somewhat toward the end."
Siri Hustvedt
Siri Hustvedt is an American novelist and essayist. Hustvedt is the author of a book of poetry, five novels, two books of essays, and a work of non-fiction...
's fourth novel. It was first published in 2008
2008 in literature
The year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 1 - In the 2008 New Year Honours, Hanif Kureishi , Jenny Uglow , Peter Vansittart and Debjani Chatterjee are all rewarded for "services to literature".*June 15 - Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times...
and is about a Norwegian American
Norwegian American
Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...
family and their troubles. The novel is partly autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
in that Hustvedt herself is of Norwegian descent and in that passages from her own deceased father's journal about the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in America and the Pacific theatre of war
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
are scattered through the book.
The Sorrows of an American operates on several time levels and depicts the difficult times of four generations of the fictional Davidsen family. At the core of the novel lies a long-kept family secret which the first person narrator
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
, a middle-aged psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
called Erik Davidsen who lives and works in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, sets out to unearth together with his sister. However, the novel abounds in subplot
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
s which focus on the present rather than the past.
Plot summary
On the death of their father Lars, a retired Professor of History, Erik Davidsen and his sister Inga, a philosopher, clean out his home office in rural MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and, while going through his copious papers, find a cryptic note written and signed by someone they do not know called Lisa which suggests to them that as a boy back in the 1930s their father was involved in some illicit act and that he has kept his promise never to tell anyone about it. The siblings decide to investigate the matter further, if only half-heartedly at first. For the time being, Erik Davidsen is preoccupied reading his father's journals, which the latter completed only shortly before his demise. For Erik, all this will mean that in the months to come he will not only be haunted by the ghosts of the present but also of the past.
It has been pointed out that none of the characters in The Sorrows of an American leads a carefree, untroubled existence. The narrator himself suffers from a slight form of depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
triggered by his recent divorce, childless state, and subsequent feeling of loneliness
Loneliness
Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person feels a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. However, it is a subjective experience...
but still finds satisfaction in attempting to cure his patients of the complaints he occasionally recognizes in himself. His sister Inga has had absence seizure
Absence seizure
Absence seizures are one of several kinds of seizures. These seizures are sometimes referred to as petit mal seizures ....
s from childhood and migraine
Migraine
Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
s all her adult life. What is more, when the novel opens she is being harassed by a female journalist who states her intention to publicize hitherto unknown facts about Inga's deceased husband, a cult author and filmmaker, and who demands that she be co-operative without telling her what exactly she is aiming at or planning to do. Inga's 18-year-old daughter Sonia suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, having witnessed, from the windows of her Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
school, the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
and the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
. Lars Davidsen, the long-term patriarch of the family, was a fugueur
Fugue state
A fugue state, formally dissociative fugue or psychogenic fugue , is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality and other identifying characteristics of individuality...
.
But also the characters outside the family show neurological symptoms. Whereas the journalist who is harassing Inga only bears an age-old personal grudge against her (of which the latter is unaware) and is out for straightforward revenge, Erik's friend and colleague Bernard Burton, apart from sweating excessively
Hyperhidrosis
Hyperhidrosis is the condition characterized by abnormally increased perspiration, in excess of that required for regulation of body temperature.-Classification:Hyperhidrosis can either be generalized or localized to specific parts of the body...
, has not been able to cope with the fact that Inga is not in love with him and, without her realizing it, has kept a watchful eye on her over the years in a way which might be construed as stalking
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
. Edie Bly, a former actress who is now impoverished, is a recovering substance abuser who has an illegitimate son by Inga's deceased husband and appears to be in an unstable psychological condition. Finally, the real stalker in the novel, a photographer and installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
ist called Jeffrey Lane, displays various signs of compulsive behaviour
Compulsive behavior
Compulsive behavior is behavior which a person does compulsively—in other words, not because they want to behave that way, but because they feel they have to do so....
, for example the urge to document virtually everything in his life by taking photos. He crosses the psychiatrist's path while pursuing his former girlfriend, a Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n-born beauty who has recently rented, and moved into, the downstairs apartment of Erik's now too large Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
brownstone
Brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...
.
Erik Davidsen is immediately drawn towards Miranda, the young woman from Jamaica, and Eglantine, her pre-school daughter by Jeffrey Lane. He soon falls head over heels in love with the dark-skinned woman while at the same time watching what he perceives to be the slow but steady deterioration of his own self. Gently rejected by Miranda, he has enough willpower left to go on a date
Dating (activity)
Dating is a form of courtship consisting of social activities done by two persons with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a partner in an intimate relationship or as a spouse...
with a sexy colleague and, for purely physical reasons, starts an affair with her. As the story progresses, however, he is more and more pulled into the quagmire of events surrounding Miranda, Inga, and himself. At one point he catches a burglar in his empty house at night, is surprised to see it is Lane, confused when the escaping Lane takes a photo of him wearing nothing much but wielding a hammer, and shocked when, months later, he recognizes the image at one of Lane's exhibitions
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
with a caption saying, Head Doctor Goes Insane.
Most of the mysteries are cleared up in the end. Erik and Inga succeed in tracking down the mysterious—and now dying—Lisa, and it turns out that all those years ago a young Lars Davidsen helped her bury her illegitimate, stillborn
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
child, in all secrecy, somewhere on his family's farm. The reputation of Inga's deceased husband is not smeared either when the existence of a batch of letters to Edie Bly can be established without doubt but when it turns out at the same time that they have no sensational value because they belong to the realm of fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
—they are addressed to the character Bly played in one of the author's films rather than Bly the actress and mother of his child. Bernard Burton proves instrumental in procuring the letters without succumbing to the temptation to actually read them, in a chivalric act in which he dresses up as a frightful bag lady
Bag Lady
"Bag Lady" is the first single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song is about a woman trying to begin anew in a relationship, but who has too much emotional "baggage" and can't get close to people. The message of the song is to "pack light" and have hope for the future...
in order not to reveal his identity, a scene which also provides some comic relief
Comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
. The conclusion of the novel is a four-page stream-of-consciousness-like recapitulation of the story's images racing through Erik's mind, and the assurance that the characters' fragmented lives will remain that way.
Reviews
The Sorrows of an American was published to almost unanimously positive reviews. Ron CharlesRon Charles
Ron Charles is deputy editor and a weekly fiction critic of The Washington Post "Book World", the book review section of the Post...
calls it "a radically postmodern novel
Postmodern literature
The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain characteristics of post–World War II literature and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature.Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact...
that wears its po-mo credentials with unusual grace; even at its strangest moments, it never radiates the chilly alienation that marks, say, the work of Hustvedt's husband, Paul Auster
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
." For Sylvia Brownrigg
Sylvia Brownrigg
Sylvia Alderyn Brownrigg is an American author. She is the author of five novels. Brownrigg's fiction has been on The New York Times notable fiction lists and Los Angeles Times books of the year. She won a Lambda Literary Award in 2001 for Pages for You...
, "the erudite Hustvedt" explores "larger questions of art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and madness
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
, mind and spirit, and the construction of the self
Social constructionism
Social constructionism and social constructivism are sociological theories of knowledge that consider how social phenomena or objects of consciousness develop in social contexts. A social construction is a concept or practice that is the construct of a particular group...
" through the dialogues of her intellectually-minded characters and the interior monologues
Internal monologue
Internal monologue, also known as inner voice, internal speech, or verbal stream of consciousness is thinking in words. It also refers to the semi-constant internal monologue one has with oneself at a conscious or semi-conscious level....
of her narrator. True, little use is made of the vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
, which prompts Haley Edwards to state that "Hustvedt writes very well, but her prose has all the flair of your Aunt Olga's dinner rolls. Sometimes Erik says things about the human condition
Human condition
The human condition encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected to gender, race, class, etc. — a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of...
that are wonderfully perceptive and incredibly poignant, but he seems to say them as if he's observing the human condition, rather than experiencing it himself."
What some critics found disappointing is that "the secrets Inga and Erik pursue don't yield the drama or meaning they have hoped for, suffusing the scenes of revelation with an air of anticlimax. This may be intentional—Hustvedt may be warning us of the folly of hoping for neat resolutions in our explorations of past pains—but it means the narrative slackens somewhat toward the end."
External links
- A video of Siri Hustvedt's "Meet the Author" session (whose focus was The Sorrows of an American), hosted by J. M. CoetzeeJohn Maxwell CoetzeeJohn Maxwell Coetzee ; is an author and academic from South Africa. He is now an Australian citizen and lives in Adelaide, South Australia...
, at Adelaide Writers' WeekAdelaide Writers' WeekAdelaide Writers' Week, held in the capital of South Australia and considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, is a traditional part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts fortnight where attendees meet and discuss literature with Australian and international writers in "Meet the Author"...
(March 2–7, 2008).