In the Land of the Cyclops

Knausgaard’s struggle is still ongoing with In the Land of the Cyclops as he continues to navigate the fjord of truth between reality and experience

“This, which we perhaps could call inexhaustible precision, is the goal of all art, and its essential legitimacy.”  —Jessica Ferri, The Los Angeles Times

In his first essay collection to be published in English, the New York Times bestselling author of the My Struggle series Karl Ove Knausgaard explores art, philosophy, and literature with piercing candor and remarkable erudition. 

Paired with full color-images, his essays render the shadowlands of Cindy Sherman’s photography, illuminate the depth of Stephen Gill’s eye, and tussle with the inner mechanics 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, so much so that branches and limbs, hair and grass, begin to harmonize.

Each essay bristles with Knausgaard’s searing honesty and longing to authentically see, understand, and experience the world.

Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in Norway in 1968. His debut novel Out of the World won the Norwegian Critics Prize in 2004 and his A Time for Everything was a finalist for the Nordic Council Prize. My Struggle: Book One was a New Yorker Book of the Year and Book Two was listed among the Wall Street Journal's 2013 Books of the Year. My Struggle is a New York Times Best Seller and has been translated into more than twenty languages. Knausgaard writes regularly for the New York Times Magazine. Translator Bio: Martin Aitken is the acclaimed translator of numerous novels from Danish and Norwegian, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Peter Hoeg, Jussie Adler-Olsen, and Pia Juul. 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. In 2019 he was awarded the PEN Translation Prize for his translation of Love by Hane Orstavik, which was also a finalist for the National Book Award in 2018.