“The logic: Reading is a private pursuit, one that often takes place behind closed doors. A young lady might retreat with a book, might even take it into her boudoir, and there, reclining on here silken sheets, imbibing the thrills and chills manufactured by writerly quills, one of her hands, one not absolutely needed to grip the little volume, might wander. The fear, in short, as one-handed reading. [p. 146]”

American novelist and essayist

Siri Hustvedt is an American novelist and essayist known for her wide-ranging prose across fiction and nonfiction. She is the author of a book of poetry, seven novels, two books of essays, and several works of nonfiction. Her books include The Blindfold, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl, What I Loved, A Plea for Eros, The Sorrows of an American, The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves, The Summer Without Men, Living, Thinking, Looking, The Blazing World, Memories of the Future, and Ghost Stories. What I Loved is the book for which she is best known, and What I Loved and The Summer Without Men were international bestsellers. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.