Novelist Siri Hustvedt celebrates the publication of her new book "The Shaking Woman or a History of My Nerves" with a discussion together with neuroscientist Hans Breiter at the Rubin Museum of Art, Friday March 5th, 2010, at 7pm.
While speaking at a memorial event for her father in 2006, Siri Hustvedt suffered a violent seizure from the neck down. Despite her flapping arms and shaking legs, she continued to speak clearly and was able to finish her speech. It was as if she had suddenly become two people: a calm orator and a shuddering wreck. Then the seizures happened again and again. The Shaking Woman tracks Hustvedt's search for a diagnosis, one that takes her inside the thought processes of several scientific disciplines, each one of which offers a sistinct perspective on her paroxysms but no ready solution. In the process, she finds herself entangeled in fundamental questions: What is the relationship between brain and mind? How do we remember? What is the self?
Tickets for the discussion is $15 and it includes admission to all museum exhibitions before the program.