In the second half of our conversation with Ottessa Moshfegh, the author discusses her discomfort in this world but admits that there is a touch of self-parody in the title of this collection of stories. Oh, the drama of existential homesickness! Nonetheless, the stories observe the difficulty characters have pursuing happiness. As much as they may long for another world, they’re not yet serious about finding freedom. A man in China secretly loves the manager of an internet café. Unable to reveal himself to her, he seeks out prostitutes. A girl wakes up with the name of an evil man in her head. Will killing him liberate her into a better world? Is a Hollywood landlady manipulating an untalented young tenant who is in turn manipulating his mother into believing his career has promise? Moshfegh may have written Homesick for Another World about trapped misfits but reveals that she is a misfit herself.
Read an excerpt from Homesick for Another World.
Photo by Sean Dellorco