“The Blazing World” (post 3) by Siri Hustvedt (post 6): Novel ends inconclusively, with the position of “Siri Hustvedt” on multiple personality described as “a moving target”

The novel refers to “…an obscure novelist and essayist, Siri Hustvedt, whose position Burden [the protagonist] calls ‘a moving target’ ” (1, p. 255).

The chapter that most directly addresses whether the protagonist has multiple personality, per se, is labelled as a written statement by Harriet Burden’s lifelong friend, Rachel Briefman, who just happens to be a psychiatrist. The first paragraph of the chapter contains this statement:

“…I can say firmly as a psychiatrist that Harry was not psychotic. She was not delusional…Harry was no more deluded than the average neurotic” (1, p. 234).

At the end of the chapter, Dr. Rachel Briefman says, “That’s why she was interested in multiple personalities, because she thought plurality was human…She knew perfectly well that she was Harry, but she had discovered new forms of her self…” (1, p. 243).

The psychiatrist/friend presumes, incorrectly, that multiple personality is a psychosis, in that, supposedly, the person is delusional and doesn’t know who she is. But the psychiatric diagnostic manual categorizes multiple personality as a dissociative disorder, not a psychosis. One reason is that the host personality is not delusional and always knows who she is.

I say “she,” because the character is a woman. Not because multiple personality is a feminist issue. Most of the writers discussed in this blog are men.

1. Siri Hustvedt. The Blazing World. New York, Simon & Schuster, 2014.