Siri Hustvedt’s "The Summer Without Men" and "The Blazing World"

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse Siri Hustvedt’s The Summer Without Men (2011) and The Blazing World (2014) from the perspective of the female Künstlerroman or Künstlerinroman to show the convergences and divergences between Hustvedt’s contemporary artist heroines and twentieth-century ones. Through the methodological framework, I discuss Linda Huf’s study of the female artist novel and Evy Varsamopoulou’s subsequent revision of it, focusing on the protagonist’s interpersonal and social relationships. It could be concluded that Hustvedt’s portrayal of the artist heroine is still a result of living in a patriarchal system, but it opens the way for complex representations of female characters, establishing strong emotional bonds between women.