• In the Land of the Cyclops
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Archipelago Books

In the Land of the Cyclops

In the Land of the Cyclops

by Karl Ove Knausgaard; translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken, with additional translations by Ingvild Burkey and Damion Searls

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Karl Ove Knausgaard explores art, philosophy, and literature with piercing candor and intelligence in this collection of cultural criticism. Paired with full-color images throughout, his essays render the shadowlands of Cindy Sherman’s photography, illuminate the depth of Stephen Gill’s eye, and tussle with the inner-workings of Ingmar Bergman's workbooks. In one essay he describes the figure of Francesca Woodman, arms coiled in birch bark and reaching up toward the sky—a tree. In another, he unearths Sally Mann’s photographs of decomposing corpses, drawn to the point at which branches and limbs, hair and grass harmonize. Each essay bristles with Knausgaard’s searing honesty and longing to authentically see, understand, and experience the world.

Additional Book Information

Series: Archipelago Books
ISBN: 9781939810748
Pages: 350
Publication Date:

Praise

The collection, which also includes essays on Michel Houellebecq, Cindy Sherman and Kierkegaard, reads less like a book of criticism at times than a work of negative theology, circling the mysteries of artistic creation that cannot be directly articulated: What makes a book or a painting feel alive and relevant? Why should art, which occupies the realm of pure fantasy, have any rules at all?
—Meghan O'Gieblyn, The New York Times Book Review

Knausgaard’s passion for interiority and the detail of the individual experience, the most brilliant elements of his fiction, come through . . . “In the Land of the Cyclops” proves that Knausgaard’s struggle is still ongoing, the search for truth as a balance between reality and our experience of it: “This, which we perhaps could call inexhaustible precision, is the goal of all art, and its essential legitimacy.
—Jessica Ferri, The Los Angeles Times

Knausgaard is less interested in answers than in authentic engagement with the world . . . In the Land of the Cyclops is another worthy addition to Knausgaard’s oeuvre that aims to recapture this intense feeling and to see the world anew.
—Phillip Garland, World Literature Today

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