Tara Selter lives in the north of France with her husband Thomas, with whom she has a business selling antique books. During a two-day work trip, she becomes trapped in an endlessly repeating November 18th. There are many references raised by reading ‘The Volume of Time’, the first installment of a series of seven books in which Solvej Balle (Denmark, 1962) immerses himself in a time loop. It’s easy to think of Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, Robinson Crusoe’s loneliness, Richard Matheson’s intertemporal love story (‘Somewhere in Time’), Gregor Samsa’s awakening, or Szymborska’s poem about singularity. of the ordinary (‘Nothing twice’). As happens to the protagonist of the novel, we need to cling to what is known to face strangeness. However, we know that something is genuinely novel when no reference serves. There are no labels or genres that completely fit into Balle’s extraordinary literary project. NOVEL ‘The volume of time (I)’ Author Solvej Balle Publisher Anagrama Year 2024 Pages 184 Price 18.90 euros 5The book begins on November 18 that Tara Selter has already lived 121 times. Written in diary form, the novel is a detailed report covering 365 repetitions of that day. The protagonist tries to find a crack in reality that will allow her to escape from her confinement. He does this by seeking answers both in books and in the observation of nature or the scrutiny of the most insignificant facts. That the details of a recurring day are examined without the story sounding repetitive is explained by the variations that make each November 18 different. The events of the day obey strict but unpredictable mechanics. One of its mysteries is that it subjects the protagonist to routine while allowing her a certain margin to act freely. Among the author’s merits, her acuity when it comes to amplifying detail stands out. Also his ability to reflect on universal themes – identity, love or time – combining depth with intrigue. The pages that Balle dedicates to the relationship that the protagonist maintains with her husband are especially vibrant. It is marked by physicality: a bond of deep, magnetic and silent rapport that will make Thomas believe his wife when he explains the time loop in which he lives. You will have to do it every November 18. As happens to the protagonist of the novel, we need to cling to what is known to face the strangeness. The days repeat themselves only for her, who, unlike her husband, ages and accumulates experience of what she has lived. That makes him a ghost and her a monster. This is how the protagonist describes it, faced with the heartbreak of being the only witness to the couple’s estrangement. Because how can we maintain love when the distance is not even marked by space but by the calendar? The abyss into which Balle appears is, like life, terrible and beautiful at the same time. The inexorable coexists in these pages with an invitation to pay attention to the exceptionality of each moment: «We have become accustomed to living with it without feeling vertigo every morning, and vertigo only appears when existence is shown for what it is: implausible, unpredictable. “extraordinary.”
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