This book gets to places that conventional art history has long been too sheepish to explore. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday * Norway doesnt have a world-class philosopher (Kierkegaard was Danish). Karl Ove Knausgaard declared at the end of his previous book that he is no longer a writer, and it looks as though hes moving in to fill that space... A philosophical meditation on the nature of art and the self. -- Sue Prideaux * Spectator * An intriguing analysis exploring the many layers of artistic creation... Intellectually rewarding, philosophically engaging, and written in a gripping narrative voice that is sincere, authoritative, and authentic, Knausgaards book subtly teaches the reader, in almost mystical and theological terms, about the positive spiritual value of art. -- JP O'Malley * Irish Times * So Much Longing in So Little Space which has its roots in an exhibition that Knausgaard curated at Oslos Munch Museum in 2017 succeeds on its own terms as a searching, shrewd and jargon-free interpretation of the artists art and life. Knausgaard writes clearly and candidly, as a fellow-pilgrim partnering the reader through Munchs inner landscape rather than a preacher or teacher. Ingvild Burkeys fine translation carries that unpretentious intimacy into English with total assurance. -- Boyd Tonkin * The Arts Desk * Although a fine primer on Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, this book is more about the experience of wandering into the world of art and being consumed by its confluence of history, narrative, and sublimity... Fans of the author's acclaimed autobiographical novels will find this book to be of Rosetta Stone-like importance as he delves into Munch's exploration of memory and how the artist rendered the past in a way that still feels both intimate and universally relatable . . . An immersive, impassioned history that illuminates both subject and author. * Kirkus *
