The Great Read: A Work of Genius or a Complete Mess? Even Its Author Can’t Decide.
Helen DeWitt’s bewildering co-written novel, “Your Name Here,” took almost 20 years to publish, a process that nearly drove her to despair.
The New York Times
The Great Read

October 29, 2025, 2:01 p.m. Eastern time

On weekdays and Sundays, we recommend one piece of exceptional writing from The Times — a narrative or essay that takes you someplace you might not expect to go.

A photograph of Helen DeWitt shows her in profile, in a blue winter coat and sitting behind a dark brown wood desk, with many papers of various sizes and colors pasted up on a wall behind her.

Mustafah Abdulaziz for The New York Times

A Work of Genius or a Complete Mess? Even Its Author Can’t Decide.

Helen DeWitt’s bewildering co-written novel, “Your Name Here,” took almost 20 years to publish, a process that nearly drove her to despair.

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