The Abyss or Life Is Simple - (Paperback)

About the Book

"Min Kamp-or My Struggle in English-is a six-volume novel by Karl Ove Knausgaard and one of the most significant literary works of the young twenty-first century. Published in Norwegian between 2009 and 2011, the year-by-year translation into English of the novels became something of a slow-gathering storm. Ambiguously figured as autobiographical by some, the six volumes present an absorbing first-person narrative of the life of a Norwegian writer, an Everyman of sorts, one with the same name as the author. In its expansiveness, textures, and anti-romanticism, Knausgaard's is a world at once fully disillusioned and thoroughly enchanted. In 2015 a small group of scholars, all admirers of Knausgaard's work, began meeting to discuss the peculiarly "religious" qualities of My Struggle and other writings. Some were interested in Knausgaard's attention to religious topics, his uses of religious histories, objects, and artworks, while others were curious about his capacity to engage various religious moods in ways that were not critical, suspicious, or celebratory. The group wanted to know, in part, what reading these textures of religion in these volumes might say about our times, about writing, about themselves. The Abyss or Life is Simple is the culmination of this collective endeavor-a remarkable collection of interlocking essays on everything from ritual, beauty, writing, and morality to divine plans for the end of the world"--

Book Synopsis

An absorbing collection of essays on religious textures in Knausgaard's writings and our time.

Min kamp, or My Struggle, is a six-volume novel by Karl Ove Knausgaard and one of the most significant literary works of the young twenty-first century. Published in Norwegian between 2009 and 2011, the novel presents an absorbing first-person narrative of the life of a writer with the same name as the author, in a world at once fully disillusioned and thoroughly enchanted.

In 2015, a group of scholars began meeting to discuss the peculiarly religious qualities of My Struggle. Some were interested in Knausgaard's attention to explicitly religious subjects and artworks, others to what they saw as more diffuse attention to the religiousness of contemporary life. The group wondered what reading these textures of religion in these volumes might say about our times, about writing, and about themselves. The Abyss or Life Is Simple is the culmination of this collective endeavor--a collection of interlocking essays on ritual, beauty, and the end of the world.

Review Quotes

"A true work of collective criticism, The Abyss or Life Is Simple is a collection of personal, thorough, and innovative essays that illuminates aspects of Knausgaard that previously have been neglected by scholars. It is a treat for anyone interested in Knausgaard's writing and an exhibit of the benefits of collaboration and collectivism in the humanities."--Claus Elholm Andersen, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Courtney Bender is professor of religion at Columbia University. Jeremy Biles is associate professor of liberal arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Liane Carlson is an associate faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. Joshua Dubler is associate professor of religion at the University of Rochester. Hannah C. Garvey is a doctoral candidate in religious studies at Indiana University Bloomington. M. Cooper Harriss is associate professor of religious studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Winnifred Fallers Sullivan is professor of religious studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Erik Thorstensen is research director at OsloMet.

About the Author

Courtney Bender, Jeremy Biles, Liane Carlson, Joshua Dubler, Hannah C. Garvey, M. Cooper Harriss, Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, and Erik Thorstensen comprise a Knausgaard Reading and Writing Collective.