To the Island
Lirhus, Agnar: Til Øya“The styrofoam board is about the size of my torso. I found it on a construction site, bobbing in a puddle. My right foot in the water, and I realise how small I will feel in the immense ocean, under the immense sky, then my left. The sand on the bottom feels dense. Cold along my calves, on my genitals, it’s freezing. I lean forward. Continue further out.”
What opportunities are given to you in life, and to what extent are the place and time you are born into crucial to how your life is going to turn out? To the Island is a story of one man’s life, and at the same time the novel is an uncompromising tale of the development of human society.
Praise for To the Island:
”In the same way the first person narrator in To the Island eats insects, you can chew over the language in the novel. It flows, is well composed and poetic … The first person narrator is a lonely figure who looks on , and a feeling of alienation is central in the book. The author places this alienation in an ingenious context at the end. How? Read it and see for yourself … To the Island may at times seem like an overly ambitious poetic project, but the story requires this form. There is so much between the lines that you can chew it over for a good, long time while mulling over your own existence. Seems like a good idea”
(Universitas)
”Lirhus offers interesting and challenging literature … To the Island is definitely a book which shines amongst the myriad of books available – in a positive way”
(Nationen)
”There is no doubt that he is in the top half of young Norwegian authors”
(Dagsavisen)
First Published: 2006, Forlaget Oktober
Agnar Lihus: Biography and bibliography
