Ottessa Moshfegh on Homesick for Another World

Her debut novel Eileen was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize but Ottessa Moshfegh is well-known in her native America as a short story writer. Here we got the chance to speak to her about the short form, the female body and why 'twisted and dark' means 'new and interesting.'

[@okayokayval]

This girl is so captivating that I'd pay to read her grocery lists.

[@VintageBooks]

*pitches idea of 'Grocery Shopping with Ottessa Moshfegh' to Vintage editorial*

[@barbaraellison1095]

She’s not a girl. Girls are humans under age 16.

[@TheFlux2]

The interviewer does such an excellent job with such an excellent writer.

[@VintageBooks]

You're very kind for saying so but I think she could probably run rings round anyone!

[@aaakirafilm]

this book made me remember and realize how real and raw the human emotion is, and it's amazing how Moshfegh put it into words

[@Yaelah-ws9rq]

Yup, and nobody did it like her

[@SavidgeReads]

I'm soooooooo looking forward to this collection. Soooooo looking forward. She makes me laugh with her frankness.

[@VintageBooks]

She is hilariously honest, or as one interviewer put it 'the least couched author I have ever met' - thefanzine.com/vanity-is-the-enemy-an-interview-with-ottessa-moshfegh/#.WH-KVZ5-Dp8.twitter

[@Njbooks98]

Oh, she's fabulous! Thanks for doing this interview, Will. So much goodness in under 10 minutes. Well done!

[@thebookmagpie1724]

What refreshing honesty! She is so interesting I could listen to her all day, She says she's not an entertainer, I disagree!

[@sunshinegirlonbeach1993]

She's absolutely wonderful just like her writing! Waiting for the remaining parts of this interview.

[@normanwhitman200]

Eileen was such a strange, wonderful book! Want to get this as soon as possible!

[@ShankyLightfoot]

Homesick for Another World was really good. Very impressive.

[@brunodeleo1193]

She is FANTASTIC! Her stories are so raw, bare and alive. I'll probably finish the book tonight, even though I don't want to. My standards for short stories are now set so high. It just doesn't get better than this!

[@VintageBooks]

So great to read such enthusiasm Bruno! Keep eyes peeled for her novella McGlue in June.

[@wakeoftheflood2]

Can I recommend the collection of short stories by Scott Wolven, "Controlled Burn", if you havent read it. I would put these two books on the same shelf

[@zachadams6263]

@@wakeoftheflood2 Thx, I'll check it out for sure

[@bianquita1]

I found Eileen quite interesting, original and very gutsy. Looking forward to reading the short stories. Great questions, Wil.

[@christine8823]

This is a very interesting interview. I love her books - they are weirdly cathartic. And she does make me laugh. Wish I could do that.

[@sleepingwillow714]

she so gets me its unreal

[@CatHelicopter]

ong

[@neotropic]

I could listen to her all day.

[@charlie5thumbs351]

I've never hear of this writer before today, but I can already tell I'm really gonna like her.

[@edglebennett6312]

omg love her love her!!!! can't wait to get to it.....your organic soul...how rich is that???

[@bibliophilereads]

Great interview! Haven't read any of her work yet but she seems cool and I'm hoping to read this collection.

[@vacheliiyer5723]

Oh my god this sounds amazing.

[@booksandallthatjazz1654]

Good interesting interview. Her short story collection sounds interesting though I must confess I'm not a huge fan of short stories, unless there's some theme that links them. Otherwise I forget most of the stories so soon after reading them. Eileen is a very memorable story with two unforgettable characters, Eileen and Rebecca. A very good debut novel.

[@VintageBooks]

Very pleased to hear you enjoyed Eileen. I know what you mean about short stories. I wouldn't say there's an overt theme to link these stories but some of them are certainly the sort you'll remember due to some of the physical details alluded to in the interview.

[@CatHelicopter]

6:44 this hit hard for me

[@segarnickmaxwell7183]

This book was so impressive

[@cakecogito]

Moshfegh has a very intriguing take on her literature.

[@anejaG55]

Her new book is really good.

[@ValVanee]

Will buy all the books she publishes forever 😁

[@ValVanee]

love her❤

[@svenh1921]

Amen!

[@all_consuming_images]

she's a fucking genius

[@fruitsofanomie]

while you, Otessa, were speaking about the body and how it easily goes ignored, i found myself getting lost in the the sheen of your lip at the right corner of your mouth in the video. I agree with what you say. Daily i appreciate the bodies of strangers as i go about my day. i appreciate their imperfections, those idiosyncrasies belonging unique to some other's body. It is a strange habit, and can draw typical comments but never action, somehow it's understood as a habit of an individualized aesthetic even by ordinary minds!

[@yalcnapaydn9691]

Who is he? What is his name?

[@ericthomas2763]

"Where do your ideas come from?" .. really?

[@michaeldoyle6702]

The NewYorker has an interesting profile on the writer this month (July, 2018). I had never heard of Moshfegh before. I am going to read her. The NewYorker article is interesting because it covers some time over her life, to the point when the solitary artist enters into a relationship with a writer, a few years younger. He appears, from the article, to be an extrovert very much wanting favourable attention. Moshfegh moves into her boyfriends cabin in the desert in California, not too far from where her father and sister have moved. The article suggests she is head over heals with the man. The quotes in the article from her love interest suggest a pretentious bore.

[@maryseo.]

"Twisted and dark" means low vibrations and evil. Nothing new under the Sun. Too bad she's a very good writer.

[@sabajoshi]

I respect her writing so much, but yet her tone and voice reminds me of a precocious teenager, jabbering on about things she has no idea about whilst trying to sound smart.

[@gneelcostello511]

I agree completely. Her short stories must be written in the time they take to read. They say nothing and use random acts of perversion to keep the reader interested.

[@o_o-lj1ym]

I thought she was a genius but now I think she’s dumb. “What isn’t twisted and dark” is such a dumb justification that doesn’t hold up if you poke at it for more than a second. Also she’s always like “I don’t see myself as a ___”, but then what do you see yourself as. Also, she can’t seem to wrap her head around the idea that people can want to change a system while still being trapped in that system.

[@chrispeterson560]

I read a published piece online and that was enough for me. I don't need to immerse myself in someone's stuff to realize I don't dig it. I watched one Michael Bay movie to recognize the fact the guy is crushingly awful. I was rather hoping you'd write: If you can do better, Chris ... Here ya go: "Eldern and youngern trees are fulgently fantasticated, and an umbrageous populace alienates on gambogian ground in presentiments of palsy."

[@chrispeterson560]

At the risk of sounding trollesque, here's yet another example of a staggeringly sloppy and mediocre writer getting her pedestrian crap published. Pubs run from risk. Write a mind-blowing work that takes place in a world in a person's hair for example and an editor won't give you the time of day. Pen this unoriginal pap that's "raw" and the giddy publisher will push it on the public who will gladly buy it. Unreal.

[@VintageBooks]

Hi Chris, before I mount a defence of Ottessa, can I ask which of her books you've already read?

[@davidkim5556]

What the fuck are you going on about?

[@ChibiChubbyRobo]

“mind blowing work that takes place in a world in a persons hair” you say that as if a book with an unconventional setting is the a full proof indicator of perfection. Anyways, Homesick for Another World IS original in every way, idk what to tell you bro 🥸