On the Calculation of Volume (Book III)

ISBN: 0811238393

Author: Balle, Solvej

Condition: New

A literary phenomenon nearly forty years in the making, and a speculative masterwork (New York Magazine), Balles epic On the Calculation of Volume in Book III introduces new thrills to the adventures of Tara Selters endless November daySHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURESHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD IN FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN TRANSLATION PRIZEIn the marvelous third installment of Balles astonishing (The Washington Post) septology, Taras 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 were 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 doesnt 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 womans 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 Taras 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, Balles On the Calculation of Volume asks us to consider: What is a single persons responsibility to humanity and to the preservation of this world?