The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves, Siri Hustvedt, Henry Holt & Co (2009)

This book is at the crossroads of my interests: literature, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and neuroscience in their different approaches to the human being. The book reads like a novel, as it recounts Siri Hustvedt’s exploration of her illness, both with medical professionals and in scientific and philosophical literature, and above all in her daily life as a writer, lecturer and writing workshop leader. It can also be read in one go – there are no chapters – like James Joyce’s Stream of Consciousness. Siri Hustvedt brings together different approaches to the human being that usually operate in silos. She questions the boundary we are historically accustomed to making between body and mind, exploring bridges, links and obscure zones. Through introspection and putting into words the experience of her illness, she lets us experience what it is to be, what we are conscious of, what we are not conscious of, what remains in our memory, what we have forgotten. By telling her story, she enables us to experience the mystery of what it is to say “I”.