I enjoyed this a lot, even though I haven't been a fan of the author's previous works! It has inspired me now to perhaps go back and give them another go.

Karl Ove Knausgaard has unworldly powers of concentration. There is also something deeply personal and direct in his dive into the arcane and esoteric beauties of world culture. With essays ranging from probing takes on Ingmar Bergman and the Northern Lights, he provides convncing proof that art and the everyday are of the same lineage.

Discursive, always-interesting pieces on an impressively eclectic set of subjects. The title essay and the Houellebecq consideration were for me the strongest examples. I've read criticism elsewhere that the essays are too 'wide-ranging' and 'meandering' but that, to me, is their strength. Recommended.

In the Land of the Cyclops is a collection of texts about the significance of literature and art, about the place of destiny in modern human life, about being earthbound, but carrying an infinity in it. Knausgaard writes about literature, painting, photography, about the creation of art and the conditions for creating, with the underlying desire to see behind the categories that shape our view of ourselves and the world. He writes about Anselm Kiefer, Anna Bjerger, Jon Fosse, about Michel Houellebecq and Laurie Anderson, among many others.

Literature is unfinished as life, meaningless as life, diverse as life, directionless as life, and can sometimes, even as life, condense into enormous clusters of meaning and world presence. This is a captivating and beguiling anthology with art as its central theme but that ruminates on profound questions surrounding the concept of art and sets foot into the metaphysical by exploring what it means to be human. It's a thought-provoking set of essays that try to understand the nature of reality and truth. Long-time fans of Knausgaard’s work will find much to love within these pages. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Archipelago for this advanced reader's copy of In the Land of the Cyclops by Karl Ove Knausgaard.

First, this is a book of essays which are all about Arts & Photography to various extents. Some are written about specific artists and some are about art and artists in general. Second, this is not a breezy, easy read. Anyone who has read anything by Knausgaard knows not to expect that from his work. It's important for anyone picking up this book to understand the author's style as well as have some knowledge of the content to fully appreciate In the Land of the Cyclops. I'll admit that some of the artists featured were new to me but as a fan of the way that Knausgaard writes I appreciated his ability to draw me in to subjects that had previously I had had no knowledge of.

I thoroughly enjoyed In the Land of the Cyclops, even making note of some particularly meaningful (to me) parts to refer back to. I'm not going to go on and on, if you like Knausgaard, you'll like In the Land of the Cyclops. If you've never read Knausgaard, this shouldn't be your first foray into his works. I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the book, "My life is surface, depth my yearning". If that quote hits you as hard as it hit me, let's be friends and wait patiently for the next masterpiece by Karl Ove Knausgaard together.