Siri Hustvedt’s work occupies a unique niche in the literary landscape. Her first novel, The Blindfold (1992) chronicles the unusual exploits of Iris Vegan, a young graduate student in New York City. The fractured narrative episodes are clearly representative of Iris’s identity issues. Siri’s second novel, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl (1996), is set in Hustvedt’s home state of Minnesota and traverses the physical and emotional territory unique to the almost-but-not quite adult heroine as well as exploring the mysteries that permeate the small town of Webster. While these two novels are accomplished in their own right, What I Loved (2003) is a powerful and complex saga that charts the quarter of a century relationship between two families inexorably intertwined by the binary fates of love and loss. She has also published two books of essays, Yonder (1998) and A Plea for Eros (2006); as well as a collection of poetry, Reading to You (1983) and a book about painting, The Mysteries of the Rectangle (2005).
The Sorrows of an American, published by Henry Holt, opens with a mysterious letter found by Inga and Erik Davidsen amongst their late father’s papers. This message is the beginning of “the year of secrets” which unfolds to reveal myriad mysteries that threaten to capsize the lives and subsume the identities of Erik, Inga and their loved ones. Hustvedt builds on the themes of her earlier work while crafting a unique story that gives equal weight to the living and the voices of the dead that echo and define them.
This interview was conducted via e-mail in the middle of April.
The Sorrows of an American is a very moving novel of loss, both personal and universal in scope. How do you adequately convey the complexity of this theme without it overwhelming the carefully constructed narrative arc?

bookslut.com

As Sade once sang, “It’s never as good as the first time.” She sang this on her second record. I still think her first one was probably her best.
But that’s no surprise: Debuts are usually the best albums of a performer’s career. Subsequent albums may be more acclaimed, more sophisticated, or better sellers. But for most listeners, an artist’s first musical statement is usually the one that cuts the deepest, lasts the longest and means the most.
I thought of this recently while listening to an iPod playlist featuring new tracks from two different bands. Some of the songs were from veteran rock band R.E.M.’s new CD “Accelerate,” which has received critical raves in many quarters for being a return to rock ‘n’ roll form. The mix also featured songs from Vampire Weekend, a worldbeat-infused group of Ivy League rockers that recently released its debut, self-titled album.
R.E.M.’s first album, “Murmur,” remains my favorite of their releases. The first time I heard it, shortly after it came out in 1983, I had no idea what the members of the band looked like. Their faces weren’t on the cover of the album. I had never seen any advertising pushing the band, or any videos. (I had heard their 1982 EP “Chronic Town.”) So I pretty much came to the music with an open mind and open ears. The band’s sound — haunting melodies, jangling guitars, and Michael Stipe’s cryptic lyrics — quickly won me over. (Listen to a clip of “Talk About the Passion” here.)
I’ve certainly admired a number of R.E.M. albums since then — and I like the band’s current single, the rocking “Supernatural Superserious” (listen to it here) — but nothing they’ve done has hit me as hard as their debut. When something completely unexpected proves to be immensely satisfying, that’s hard to top.

online.wsj.com

This week’s new spotlight DVDs:
Writer-director Wes Anderson’s aesthetically beautiful, emotionally layered fifth feature didn’t get the critical or commercial love that came with his Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Nonetheless, although The Darjeeling Limited ambles with a seeming meditative aimlessness more than its brethren, you can spot that distinctive and fanciful Anderson DNA they all share. The dryly comic director’s now-familiar eccentricities — the flip and deadpan tone, emotionally isolated and foible-rich characters’ jangled blend of feeling and intellect, the slow-mo pop music moments, the architecturally composed widescreen frames, the study of a family that bonds in its disunity — here move the brothers into new geographic and spiritual terrain.
The three estranged Whitman brothers (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody) have not spoken to one another in a year. So they set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other — to become brothers again like they used to be. (”I wonder if the three of us would’ve been friends in real life. Not as brothers, but as people.”) Their “spiritual journey,” however, veers rapidly off-course and they eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert with eleven suitcases, a printer and a laminating machine. A new, unplanned journey of self-discovery begins, even though “We haven’t located us yet.” Also worth noting here are two other members of Anderson’s hand-woven repertory company — Anjelica Huston as the Whitman mom whose identity crisis has spirited her off to the Himalayas, and Bill Murray in a funny recurring bit.
On the DVD, preceding The Darjeeling Limited is Anderson’s fine 13-minute prequel short, The Hotel Chevalier (a.k.a. The One With Natalie Portman Nekkid). Also here is a behind-the-scene featurette, “The Darjeeling Limited Walking Tour” (21 minutes).

film.com