Heidi Julavits – författare

One Autumn day in 1985, sixteen-year-old Mary Veal vanishes from her Massachusetts prep school. A few weeks later she reappears unharmed and with little memory of what happened to her--or at least little that she is willing to share.  Was Mary abducted, or did she fake her disappearance? This question haunts Mary''s family, her psychologist, even Mary herself. Weaving together three narratives, The Uses of Enchantment conjures a spell in which the hallucinatory power of a young woman’s sexuality, and her desire to wield it, has devastating consequences for all involved.From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the acclaimed novelist and The Believer editor HEIDI JULAVITS, a wildly imaginative and emotionally intense novel about mothers, daughters, and the psychic damage women can inflict on one another. Is the bond between mother and daughter unbreakable, even by death?     Julia Severn is a student at an elite institute for psychics. Her mentor, the legendary Madame Ackermann, afflicted by jealousy, refuses to pass the torch to her young disciple. Instead, she subjects Julia to the humiliation of reliving her mother''s suicide when Julia was an infant. As the two lock horns, and Julia gains power, Madame Ackermann launches a desperate psychic attack that leaves Julia the victim of a crippling ailment.     Julia retreats to a faceless job in Manhattan. But others have noted Julia''s emerging gifts, and soon she''s recruited to track down an elusive missing person—a controversial artist who might have a connection to her mother. As Julia sifts through ghosts and astral clues, everything she thought she knew of her mother is called into question, and she discovers that her ability to know the minds of others—including her own—goes far deeper than she ever imagined.      As powerful and gripping as all of Julavits''s acclaimed novels, The Vanishers is a stunning meditation on grief, female rivalry, and the furious power of a daughter''s love.

Like many young people, Heidi Julavits kept a diary. Decades later she found her old diaries in a storage bin, and hoped to discover the early evidence of the person (and writer) she’d since become. Instead, “The actual diaries revealed me to possess the mind of a paranoid tax auditor.”     Thus was born a desire to try again, to chronicle her daily life as a fortysomething woman, wife, mother, and writer. The dazzling result is The Folded Clock, in which the diary form becomes a meditation on time and self, youth and aging, betrayal and loyalty, friendship and romance, faith and fate, marriage and family, desire and death, gossip and secrets, art and ambition.      The Folded Clock is as playful as it is brilliant, a tour de force by one of the most gifted prose stylists in American letters.

From the Hardcover edition.

Does Alice really hate her sister, or is that love? Was she really enrolled in grad school, or was that an elaborate hoax? Is this really a hijacking, or is it merely the effect of living backwards?Following her acclaimed debut, The Mineral Palace, Heidi Julavits presents a quirky, compelling new novel about two sisters, a bizarre event, and the elusive nature of truth.

'An absolute stunner: frank, funny, self-aware, constantly surprising ... One of the most insightful representations I’ve read of what it feels like to be alive these days' GEORGE SAUNDERS________________________A memoir of finding where you are - so you know where you’re goingOne day Heidi Julavits sees her son silhouetted by the sun and notices he is at the threshold of what she calls ‘the end times of childhood.’ Who is my son becoming, she asks herself – and what qualifies me to be his guide? The next four years feel like uncharted waters. Rape allegations rock the university campus where Julavits teaches, unleashing questions of justice and accountability, education and prevention. Julavits begins to wonder how to prepare her son to be the best possible citizen of the world he’s about to enter. And what she must learn about herself to responsibly steer him. Using the past and present as points of orientation, Directions to Myself examines the minutiae of family life alongside knottier questions of politics and gender. Through it all, Julavits discovers the beauty and the peril of telling stories as a way to locate ourselves and help others find us.‘The product of an awe-inspiring mind ... The writing is a miracle of precision and spirit, and Heidi Julavits is as darkly funny as John Cheever’ Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room ‘Honest, blazing, and generous, Directions to Myself manages to be an essay about everything by focusing intently on the basic human need of giving care to other people’ Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X

''An absolute stunner: frank, funny, self-aware, constantly surprising ... One of the most insightful representations I''ve read of what it feels like to be alive these days'' GEORGE SAUNDERS________________________A memoir of finding where you are - so you know where you''re goingOne day Heidi Julavits sees her son silhouetted by the sun and notices he is at the threshold of what she calls ''the end times of childhood.'' Who is my son becoming, she asks herself – and what qualifies me to be his guide? The next four years feel like uncharted waters. Rape allegations rock the university campus where Julavits teaches, unleashing questions of justice and accountability, education and prevention. Julavits begins to wonder how to prepare her son to be the best possible citizen of the world he''s about to enter. And what she must learn about herself to responsibly steer him. Using the past and present as points of orientation, Directions to Myself examines the minutiae of family life alongside knottier questions of politics and gender. Through it all, Julavits discovers the beauty and the peril of telling stories as a way to locate ourselves and help others find us.''The product of an awe-inspiring mind ... The writing is a miracle of precision and spirit, and Heidi Julavits is as darkly funny as John Cheever'' Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room ''Honest, blazing, and generous, Directions to Myself manages to be an essay about everything by focusing intently on the basic human need of giving care to other people'' Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X

An insightful meditation on time, relationships and identity, The Folded Clock is a funny, thoughtful and inquisitive diary for fans of Olivia Laing and Jenny Offill''Exquisite ... Witty, sly, critical, inventive and adventurous'' New York Times''Scathingly funny ... Exhilarating ... An engaging portrait of a woman''s sense of identity'' LA TimesLike many young people, Heidi Julavits kept a diary. Decades later she found her old diaries in a storage bin, and hoped to discover the early evidence of the person (and writer) she''d since become. Instead, they ''revealed me to possess the mind of a paranoid tax auditor''.Thus was born a desire to try again, to chronicle her daily life as a fortysomething woman, wife, mother and writer. The dazzling result is The Folded Clock, in which the diary form becomes a meditation on time and self, youth and aging, betrayal and loyalty, friendship and romance, faith and fate, marriage and family, desire and death, gossip and secrets, art and ambition.The Folded Clock is as playful as it is brilliant, a tour de force by one of the most gifted prose stylists in the English language.

''An absolute stunner: frank, funny, self-aware, constantly surprising ... One of the most insightful representations I''ve read of what it feels like to be alive these days'' GEORGE SAUNDERS________________________A memoir of finding where you are - so you know where you''re goingOne day Heidi Julavits sees her son silhouetted by the sun and notices he is at the threshold of what she calls ''the end times of childhood.'' Who is my son becoming, she asks herself – and what qualifies me to be his guide? The next four years feel like uncharted waters. Rape allegations rock the university campus where Julavits teaches, unleashing questions of justice and accountability, education and prevention. Julavits begins to wonder how to prepare her son to be the best possible citizen of the world he''s about to enter. And what she must learn about herself to responsibly steer him. Using the past and present as points of orientation, Directions to Myself examines the minutiae of family life alongside knottier questions of politics and gender. Through it all, Julavits discovers the beauty and the peril of telling stories as a way to locate ourselves and help others find us.''The product of an awe-inspiring mind ... The writing is a miracle of precision and spirit, and Heidi Julavits is as darkly funny as John Cheever'' Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room ''Honest, blazing, and generous, Directions to Myself manages to be an essay about everything by focusing intently on the basic human need of giving care to other people'' Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X