Om året

Årstidsencyklopedien #1-4

by Karl Ove Knausgård

Vi lever livet vårt blant tingene. Vanligvis er tingene bakgrunnen som alt det viktige utspiller seg mot - sengen vi ble født i, med sitt hvite laken; marken under kirsebærtreet utenfor vinduet der vi sov som barn, hvit som av snø de få dagene i året treet blomstret av; støvdottene i hjørnet på lokalet hvor bryllupsfesten ble holdt, grå og myke og så vare for alle luftens bevegelser; bordet vi kanskje en gang vil dø ved, fatet med makrell og skivene med agurk som kanskje vil stå på det. I denne boken er det tingene som står i forgrunnen.

Om året samler de fire bøkene Om høsten, Om vinteren, Om våren og Om sommeren til én bok. Den er skrevet av en far til hans datter, i tiden fra barnet vokser i morens mage til hun er noen måneder gammel, og den handler om gleden ved tingene og gleden ved livet, selv når det er på sitt vanskeligste.

Verket er illustrert av fremstående, nålevende kunstnere. Om høsten er illustrert av Vanessa Baird, Om vinteren er illustrert av Lars Lerin, Om våren er illustrert av Anna Bjerger, Om sommeren er illustrert av Anselm Kiefer.

1108 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2018

About the author

Nominated to the 2004 Nordic Council’s Literature Prize & awarded the 2004 Norwegian Critics’ Prize.

Karl Ove Knausgård (b. 1968) made his literary debut in 1998 with the widely acclaimed novel Out of the World, which was a great critical and commercial success and won him, as the first debut novel ever, The Norwegian Critics' Prize. He then went on to write six autobiographical novels, titled My Struggle (Min Kamp), which have become a publication phenomenon in his native Norway as well as the world over.

Reviews

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Only what slips through one's fingers, only what is never expressed in words, has no thoughts, exists completely. That is the price of proximity: you don't see it. Don't know that it's there. Then it is over, then you see it."
- Karl Ove Knausgård, Autumn



I read/reviewed 1 Year/Om året in the origional four books order it came out (the Seasonal Encyclopedia/Årstidsencyklopedien Series) from September 2017 to September 2018. Here are my reviews:

1. Autumn - September 17, 2017 ★★★★
2. Winter - February 5, 2018 ★★★★
3. Spring - May 9, 2018 ★★★★★
4. Summer - September 20, 2018 ★★★★ [yet to review]

[Reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as particular seasons abound over others within our minds, the summer being ineluctably superior to the throes of spring, the same holds true to one’s beliefs on Knausgård’s quartet of essays and diaries. I found this collection to be beautiful and sobering, although of course some essays resonated with me less than others. The illustrations are lovely, and yet I really could not attach myself to them due to the fact that I was always craving the next word of Karl Ove’s instead. I look forward to his Cyclopes essays, given that I understand they shall be more fleshed-out, and am glad to say that I’ve now read two of his three series (the third series, consisting of Morgenstjernen & Ulvene fra evighetens skog, is still underway and thus my incompletion of it is something only I will keep note of).