Empathy

I first read Empathy in the early 90s, and loved it. I just reread it and it was even better than I remembered.

Written by Sarah Schulman, it is kind of an existential novel about lesbian identity and the search for meaning in the contemporary world.

It centers around two characters who are each somewhat at sea in New York City where people are dying of AIDS, nodding out on the street, or living in a stupor of consumerism. One of them is a street corner psychoanalyst. He gives out cards on the street and only sees patients for three sessions. The other main character, Anna O (named after the famous hysteric) is his patient. Together they enter into a wonderful dialogue and both try to manage their alienation -- romantic, political, social, and familial.

The writing and dialogue have a special surreal quality, where people really speak themselves. It cuts to the heart of things. Each character exquisitely observes themselves and others in a way that makes Empathy very intimate and very intelligent.