Essay on "Living with Strangers"
B: Living with Strangers
Siri Hustvedt is famous for her essays and an interesting one is "Living with Strangers", where Hustvedt enlightens us with her viewpoints on the two different types of living; suburban and urban.
Siri Hustvedt shows exactly what a talented writer she is in this essay. Hustvedt manages to place the essay "Living with strangers" just in between a short story and an article, as it's not purely fiction and yet not entirely literal either. All-though, she keeps her main focus on the main genre-feature of the essay; The author's personal point of view. This prose-essay consists of Hustvedts' observations of daily life in New York, recollections from Minnesota and reflections on how urban living is.
Siri Hustvedt moved from Minnesota to New York in 1978 and she experienced first-handedly how it feels to moved from a place, where everybody greets each other on the road and the worst sin was you being a snob and then "to live among hordes of strangers" (p. 1, l. 6-7) where one of the custom rules is 'Pretend it isn't happening' and confronting people is down-right dangerous.
To open up the essay, Hustvedt mentions a whole list of things that describe urban living; "I listened to the howling battles of the couple that lived below me, [...]. My single view took in the back wall of a building [...]. On the sidewalk, I was jostled, bumped, and elbowed as I negotiated the crowds." (p. 1, l. 8-14) This introduces the reader to what most would define as uncomfortable, as we find ourselves thinking towards lack of sleep and stress - with nowhere to escape.
To top the essence of discomfort off, Hustvedt states that "On the subway, I found myself in intimate contact with people I didn't know, my body pressed so tightly against them, I could smell their hair oils, perfumes and sweat." (p. 1, l. 14-16) This closeness is something that most of us, Hustvedt as well, saves exclusively to boyfriends and close family - This exclusiveness
Siri Hustvedt is famous for her essays and an interesting one is "Living with Strangers", where Hustvedt enlightens us with her viewpoints on the two different types of living; suburban and urban.
Siri Hustvedt shows exactly what a talented writer she is in this essay. Hustvedt manages to place the essay "Living with strangers" just in between a short story and an article, as it's not purely fiction and yet not entirely literal either. All-though, she keeps her main focus on the main genre-feature of the essay; The author's personal point of view. This prose-essay consists of Hustvedts' observations of daily life in New York, recollections from Minnesota and reflections on how urban living is.
Siri Hustvedt moved from Minnesota to New York in 1978 and she experienced first-handedly how it feels to moved from a place, where everybody greets each other on the road and the worst sin was you being a snob and then "to live among hordes of strangers" (p. 1, l. 6-7) where one of the custom rules is 'Pretend it isn't happening' and confronting people is down-right dangerous.
To open up the essay, Hustvedt mentions a whole list of things that describe urban living; "I listened to the howling battles of the couple that lived below me, [...]. My single view took in the back wall of a building [...]. On the sidewalk, I was jostled, bumped, and elbowed as I negotiated the crowds." (p. 1, l. 8-14) This introduces the reader to what most would define as uncomfortable, as we find ourselves thinking towards lack of sleep and stress - with nowhere to escape.
To top the essence of discomfort off, Hustvedt states that "On the subway, I found myself in intimate contact with people I didn't know, my body pressed so tightly against them, I could smell their hair oils, perfumes and sweat." (p. 1, l. 14-16) This closeness is something that most of us, Hustvedt as well, saves exclusively to boyfriends and close family - This exclusiveness