Otevřená pustá krajina – Askildsen Kjell (2025)

Kjell Askildsen (1929–2021) is considered one of the most significant Norwegian post-war writers. He is the author of several novels, but he fully developed his literary talent in short stories published in collections from 1982 to 2005, from which this selection is drawn. His minimalist, ironic texts – significantly influenced by the French nouveau roman – about people incapable of functional communication have been awarded numerous Norwegian literary prizes and translated into more than twenty languages. Czech readers are not entirely unfamiliar with Askildsen, as his stories appeared in the collection A Nail in the Cherry (1998) and others in student anthologies. The presented collection aims to offer a comprehensive representative overview of Askildsen's work. The Open Empty Landscape brings stories in which seemingly nothing happens; characters move from room to room, smoke at tables in gardens, refill their wine, observe the happenings outside the windows, or sit on benches in the park. However, beneath the surface, tensions simmer, communication falters, and not particularly sympathetic protagonists analyze spoken banalities and try to understand their meaning. The author creates a space in his texts where meanings are born more between the lines. Each sentence is precisely weighted, each...