Directions to Myself

(Paperback)

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In this honest and provocative book Heidi Julavits examines gender, power and sexuality, engaging with a debate which has never been more relevant than it is today How can a mother know her son will not grow up to be a rapist How can a mother know her son will not be falsely accused of being a rapist How can a mother reshape the power relations of men and women as she raises her son Transfixed by a very public rape case on a college campus, Heidi Julavits was spurred into examining her role as parent, and the rituals that exist between men of all ages. Following the case closely, she watched as it boiled down to a stalemate of He-Said-She-Said. Julavits read all the evidence available and eventually concluded neither of them were lying, both the man and the woman believed their version of events was the truth. It is this conclusion that has led Julavits to investigate our approach to power, gender and sexuality in this challenging, brave and provocative book. This is a critical polemic for today one mothers intellectual and personal investigation of how best to raise her son, a future man and potential rapist.

Reviews

Witty, sly, critical, inventive and adventurous Her prose, like E. B. Whites, is especially liquid, and her sentences are unimpeachable * New York Times *
Julavits, as we know from her inventive novels is a pro at spinning stories * LA Times *
Poignant Profound * Boston Globe *
Playful, intimate and deeply insightful Julavits is someone you truly want to know * Chicago Tribune *
Like E. B. White or David Foster Wallace before her, Julavits might be ashamed of her little vanities and obsessions but that doesnt prevent her from laying them bare without sugar-coating a thing Theres not a single uninteresting anecdote or scrap of flabby prose throughout * Barnes and Noble *
An incisive and penetrating thinker, as exacting as she is forgiving in her observations about the self and the world * Electric Literature *

Author Bio

Heidi Julavits is the author of four critically acclaimed novels (The Vanishers, The Uses of Enchantment, The Effect of Living Backwards, and The Mineral Palace) and co-editor, with Sheila Heti and Leanne Shapton, of the New York Times bestseller Women in Clothes. Her fiction has appeared in Harper's Magazine, McSweeneys, and The Best American Short Stories, among other places. She's a founding editor of The Believer magazine and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in Manhattan, where she teaches at Columbia University. She was born and raised in Portland, Maine.