The book has made a forceful impact on the literary world lately, culminating when Petterson won the very prestigious IMPAC award last week, billed as the world’s richest literary award, beating other contemporary greats such as J. M. Coetzee and Salman Rushdie.
In the review, written by Thomas McGuane, Out Stealing Horses is described as a ”short yet spacious and powerful book”, with a “gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader’s own experience of life.” McGuane hails Pettersons feat of managing to handle the time collapses in a story that spans half a century “through an ingenuity of the narrative (…) with such structural assurance and isometric tightness that the continuity is undisturbed.”
When asked to comment on the recent week’s attention, Petterson himself is as earthbound and as Trond, the protagonist of Out Stealing Horses: “You know I’m just really tired right now. A bit exhausted, actually. Sorry,” adding that he’s looking forward to returning to New York for a reading at the 92st Y’s Poetry Center, which former Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins has billed as “the absolute center of the universe of literary performance in America," on October 1st.
Petterson will also participate in a literary event hosted by the Norwegian Consulate General in New York, along with NORLA, the organization charged with promoting Norwegian books abroad. Gina Winje, head of NORLA, recently stated her hopes for Norwegian books abroad in an interview with newspaper Dagsavisen: “The IMPAC award is a confirmation to us that translated Norwegian literature is at a high,” she said, noting that “it’s not obvious that a Norwegian author should gain the recognition Petterson has. This is a sign to publishers around the world that looking to Norway for literature could be a very smart move.”
Facsimile from The New York Times Book Review:
