The Boat in the Evening

Tarjei Vesaas, Elizabeth Rokkan

• Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780720611984
• eBook ISBN:
  9780720617009
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

Earning its author a third nomination for the Nobel Prize, this tale centers on a crane colony arriving at its breeding ground to play out a delicate drama, ending with the rarely observed ceremony of the ritual dance. All is observed by a transfixed child who has frozen into his background and become a piece of nature himself. With a kind of cinematic impressionism, this novel voyages back to episodes from childhood, adolescence, and maturity as well as conducts speculative forays into the unknown. Unfolding in a series of delicate sketches that record the changing moods of human experience, this story is at once pervaded by a sense of melancholy and a sensuous appreciation of nature. A profound and beautiful book, it is the summation of a literary artist's first-hand experience and observation of rural life—of landscape and people.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Preface
• Contents
• 1 As It Stands in the Memory
• 2 In the Marshes and on the Earth
• 3 Spring in Winter
• 4 Daybreak with Shining Horses
• 5 The Drifter and the Mirrors
• 6 The Wasted Day Creeps Away on Its Belly
• 7 Washed Cheeks
• 8 Fire in the Depths
• 9 Words, Words
• 10 The Dream of Stone
• 11 The Heart Lies Naked beside the Highway in the Dark
• 12 The Tranquil River Glides Out of the Landscape
• 13 Beyond One’s Grasp
• 14 Just Walking Up to Fetch the Churn
• 15 The Melody
• 16 The Rivers beneath the Earth
• Copyright
• Back Cover