In the Land of the Cyclops: Essays - Paperback

by Karl Ove Knausgaard (Author), Martin Aitken (Translator), Ingvild Burkey (Translator)

From the New York Times bestselling author of the My Struggle series comes a collection of ambitious, remarkably erudite essays on art, literature, culture, and philosophy.

In the Land of the Cyclops is Karl Ove Knausgaard's first collection of essays to be published in English. In these wide-ranging pieces, he reflects openly and with penetrating intelligence on Ingmar Bergman's notebooks, Anselm Kiefer, the northern lights, Madame Bovary, Rembrandt, and the role of an editor. Accompanied by black-and-white reproductions throughout, these essays illuminate Cindy Sherman's shadowlands, the sublime mystery of Sally Mann's vision, and the serious play of Francesca Woodman. They capture Knausgaard's remarkable ability to mediate between the personal and the universal, between life and art. Each piece glimmers with his candor and his longing to authentically see, understand, and experience the world.

Author Biography

Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in Norway in 1968. His debut novel, Out of This World, won the Norwegian Critics Prize in 1998, and his second novel, A Time for Everything, was a finalist for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2005. My Struggle: Book One was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Martin Aitken is the translator of numerous novels from the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, including works by Peter Høeg, Ida Jessen, Kim Leine, Hanne Ørstavik, and Karl Ove Knausgaard. His translations of short stories and poetry have appeared in many literary journals and magazines. In 2012 he was awarded the American-Scandinavian Foundation's Nadia Christensen Translation Prize. He lives and works in Denmark.