It's funny, I didn't expect this to happen. Was it the last story you wrote for the book?

And that she is homesick for another world, kind of describes the general attitude I had toward this book, what I wanted this collection to be about.ĭG: This is the last story in the book. it felt natural to pick the title from that story. But this character from the story, 'A Better Place,' felt the most like me in her attitudes. There isn't any satire in it, in the way that I use satire, I think in most of the other stories in the collection.Īnd it's written in a different register and it is dealing with a kind of spiritual quandary or perhaps a misinterpretation of what life and death are in a way that I think all of the characters in the book experience. The title comes from the last story in the collection, a story called 'A Better Place.' And I took the title from that story because that story feels the most personal to me, actually.

Ottessa Moshfegh: Am I homesick for another world? Yeah, I think we all are in multiple ways. Are you yourself 'homesick for another world'? Here's an edited transcript of 'BETA' host Doug Gordon's conversation with Moshfegh:ĭoug Gordon: Your new book of short stories has a great title: 'Homesick For Another World.' I'm curious. While still early in her career, she has already put together an impressive resume. Her first novel, 'Eileen,' won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction and was short-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize.Īnd now, she has recently released her first short-story collection, called 'Homesick for Another World.' She is a novelist and short-story writer from Boston. Moshfegh is a rising star in the world of literary fiction.

If you can relate to characters with existential insecurities - and these days, it seems like we all can - Ottessa Moshfegh's fiction will resonate.

Ottessa moshfegh short stories