With many writers, it's easy to see what makes their work captivating: intricate plotting, immersive world-building, fascinating characters, realistic dialogue, sophisticated themes. Other writers are magicians, in that it's not clear how they achieve their effects. The notable facets of Knausgaard's writing style are all traits usually considered negative. His descriptions are overloaded with quotidian minutiae, his characters are mundane, and it's not clear where his story is going. And yet, somehow, the book is consistently compelling. How does he do it?
The story and themes of The Wolves of Eternity emerge very slowly from the day-to-day activities of Syvert, a 20-year-old Norwegian trying to decide on a direction after returning home from his military service. When Syvert's Russian half-sister Alevtina takes over as narrator, she brings an apparently different set of themes. Meanwhile Alevtina's friend Vaslisa is writing a treatise about early Soviet-era efforts to achieve immortality. It's only in the last 100 pages of this 792-page book that the threads come together. The primary theme, I suggest, is the question of what we lose when someone dies and whether we can resurrect any of it.
At the level of plot, I appreciated parallel scenes wherein Alevtina and Syvert each contend with chatty fellow travelers. The scenes naturalistically captured the experience, illustrated the differences between the two characters, and foreshadowed their meeting in Moscow.
The last two chapters introduce a link to Knausgaard's previous book The Morning Star. I'll likely pick up that book soon, unless I'm deterred by Knausgaard's typical intimidating length and by the fact that two more related books have already been published in Norwegian.
No comments:
Post a Comment