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|title=The Blazing World

|sort=Blazing World, The

|publisher=Sceptre

|date=March 2014

|website=http://sirihustvedt.net/

|video=Z1DcWiy5xDA

|summary=Through a collection of fragmentary sources, the novel builds a posthumous picture of Harriet Burden, a larger-than-life feminist and modern artist who released her work under male pseudonyms. An engrossing puzzle as well as a bold commentary on gender identity and the fractured self. Stylistically risky and fiercely intelligent.

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'All intellectual and artistic endeavours…fare better in the mind of the crowd when the crowd knows that somewhere behind the great work or the great spoof it can locate a cock and a pair of balls.' Thus we are introduced to the unforgettable Harriet Burden – larger-than-life, six-foot-tall amazon artist – and to some of the novel's essential elements: musing on what makes intellectual products successful in a postmodern marketplace, feminist resentment of the overvaluing of male achievement, and an unapologetic, playful boldness with language.

This was my first encounter with Hustvedt; I am so impressed that I would eagerly read anything else she's written, fiction or nonfiction. Meanwhile, I highly recommend ''The Blazing World''. Take Harriet's advice: 'Peel the onion of personas, from one to the next, moving further and further into the book.' You'll find her intriguing story entirely worth the mental effort."

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