"A Time for Everything" by Karl O. Knausgaard

[Archipelago Books]

A Time for Everything
by Karl O. Knausgaard
translated from the Norwegian by James Anderson
$20 trade paperback original • 500 pages • ISBN 978-0-9800330-8-3
Available December 1st, 2009
Read an excerpt on Archipelago Books' website

In the sixteenth century, Antinous Bellori, a boy of eleven, is lost in a dark forest and stumbles upon two glowing beings, one carrying a spear, the other a flaming torch . . . This event is decisive in Bellori’s life, and he thereafter devotes himself to the pursuit and study of angels, the intermediaries of the divine. Beginning in the Garden of Eden and soaring through to the present, A Time for Everything reimagines pivotal encounters between humans and angels: the glow of the cherubim watching over Eden; the profound love between Cain and Abel despite their differences; Lot’s shame in Sodom; Noah’s isolation before the flood; Ezekiel tied to his bed, prophesying ferociously; the death of Christ; and the emergence of sensual, mischievous cherubs in the seventeenth century. Alighting upon these dramatic scenes – from the Bible and beyond – Knausgaard’s imagination takes flight: the result is a dazzling display of storytelling at its majestic, spellbinding best. Incorporating and challenging tradition, legend, and the Apocrypha, these penetrating glimpses hazard chilling questions: can the nature of the divine undergo change, and can the immortal perish?

"The writing glows with an intense awareness of the here and now, and loving observations of landscapes and objects . . . this is quite an extraordinary novel, and completely original." --The Independent

"The most original and promising Norwegian writer of his generation." --Adresseavisen

"Knausgaard joins the ranks of the greatest storytellers of our time. His glittering prose is purposeful, precise, and poetic. . . . There can be no doubt about his extraordinary talent: only the work of a master can be thought-provoking on so many levels yet retain a lightness of touch."
--Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Karl O. Knausgaard was born in Norway in 1968 and made his debut with the novel Ute av verden (Out of the World). A Time for Everything, his second novel and his first to be published in English, was nominated for the Nordic Council Prize. The first volume of his Min Kamp won Norway’s 2009 Brage Prize.

James Anderson’s literary translations from the Norwegian include Berlin Poplars by Anne B. Ragde, Nutmeg by Kristin Valla, and several works by Jostein Gaarder.