On The Calculation Of Volume (book Iii)

By (author) Balle Solvej; Translated by Hersi Smith, Sophia; Translated by Russell Jennifer
Short description/annotation:
“A literary phenomenon nearly forty years in the making, and a speculative masterwork” (New York Magazine), Balle’s epic On the Calculation of Volume in Book III introduces new thrills to the adventures of Tara Selter’s endless November day
Description:
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD IN FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE In the marvelous third installment of Balle’s “astonishing” (The Washington Post) septology, Tara’s November 18th transforms when she discovers that she is no longer alone in her endless autumnal day. For she has met someone who remembers, and who knows as well as she does that “it is autumn, but that we’re not heading into winter. That spring and summer will not follow. That the reds and yellows of the trees are here to stay. That yesterday doesn’t mean the seventeenth of November, that tomorrow means the eighteenth, and that the nineteenth is a day we may never see.” Where Book I and II focused on a single woman’s involuntary journey away from her life and her loved ones and into the chasm of time, Book III brings us back into the realm of companionship, with all its thrills, odd quirks, and a sense of mutual bewilderment at having to relearn how to exist alongside others in a shared reality. And then of course, what of Tara’s husband Thomas, still sitting alone day after day, entirely unawares, in their house in Clarion-sous-Bois, waiting for his wife to return? Blending poetry and philosophical inquiry with rich reflections on our discombobulating times, Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume asks us to consider: What is a single person’s responsibility to humanity and to the preservation of this world?
Review quote:
"Solvej Balle is a prodigious writer who, miraculously, finds the subtlest, most fascinating differences in repetition. You have never read anything like On the Calculation of Volume. This unforgettable novel is a profound meditation on the lonely, untranslatable ways in which each one of us inhabits time—and the tenuous yet indelible traces we leave in the world. Day after day."
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"On the Calculation of Volume is a thrilling example of what an author can do with narrative when time doesn''t work in a traditional way. It''s a tragic story with so many moments of hope."
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"For the reader the series’ seductive qualities are only deepening. A brainy and beguiling meditation on time and purpose."
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"Endlessly fascinating, supple, and tenderly human, Balle’s masterpiece reaches new heights."
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"As engrossing as what preceded it."
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"This novel of repetition reveals the remarkable richness of each moment. Balle''s spare, attentive prose demonstrates the way careful attention can transform seemingly familiar silences into a lushly textured masterwork of sound. "
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"As Tara''s circle expands, so does the world of the book. Small as it is, Tara''s new society makes for a number of twists in Balle''s narrative puzzle."
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"Balle’s series has grown into a cult hit, both in Scandinavia, where the first six of a planned seven books have been released in the original Danish, and, more recently, in the U.S. The novels, composed of Tara’s diary entries, meld metaphysical inquiry with an intimate attention to the natural world and the domestic sphere. Balle’s prose—repetitive, hypnotic, and as balanced as a small plane—sustains an atmosphere of illuminated ordinariness."
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"Balle’s language is consistent in its clarity, and also in the way it toggles among modes within the span of a paragraph: attentiveness t