The Scent of Light

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Between 1989 and 1996, Kristjana Gunnars published five linked novellas, all featuring the same narrator and a fragmentary style. These works, which predate the term autofiction, anticipate the styles of contemporary writers like Rachel Cusk and Karl Ove Knausgaard. They chronicle a life of constant movement, reflecting a singular, feminist, nomadic existence through a discontinuous and subversive narrative. The stories encompass a range of experiences, from childhood in Cold War Iceland to love affairs and loss, revealing an ongoing engagement with literary figures such as Proust and Kierkegaard. The collection, brought together for the first time, includes an insightful introduction by poet Kazim Ali. Each novella explores distinct themes while maintaining a unifying thread, engaging in dialogue with the works of various influential writers. "The Prowler" reflects on childhood memories against the backdrop of the Cold War, while "Zero Hour" confronts the grief of a father's illness and death. "The Substance of Forgetting" explores happiness and love in a lush valley, and "The Rose Garden" depicts an academic exchange in Germany, intertwined with Proust's text. Lastly, "Night Train to Nykøbing" delves into life's uncertainties as the narrator travels between Vancouver and Oslo, highlighting the liminality of existence.