What if, instead of trying to date Andie MacDowell, Bill Murray had spent Groundhog Day questioning existence in Danish?
Granted, it’s not a what-if you’ve probably thought about before.
Yet in many ways, the first volume of Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume goes some way towards imagining it.
Of course, I jest. But only a little.
The basic premise of the novel is the same as Bill’s dilemma. But Balle takes the implications of being trapped in time to a whole different—and significantly more philosophical—level.
Thankfully, to help me navigate such unsteady philosophical ground, I’m joined by the excellent Hannah Patterson to discuss the book and what being forced to live a single day in November over and over again would mean.
Indeed, welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.
As you may well know by now, in each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books and culture to talk about a specific book they'd like to put in the library.
There's no plan and no agenda, just two people lazily thinking about literature.
If you enjoy the show and would like to help us (and get your hands on a coveted Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge), you can become a supporter of the library by upgrading your subscription.
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In this episode, as I say, my very special guest is the writer Hannah Patterson, author of Ungone. We discuss her pick for the library, the 2020 novel On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J. Haveland.
About Hannah
Hannah Patterson has written for stage and screen. Recent plays include MUCH, Giving, Platinum, Eden, and Playing With Grown Ups, which was nominated for a West End Award for Best New Play. As a writer for film, she’s working on features with filmmakers such as Desperate Optimists duo Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor, Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Leckey, and visual artist Melanie Manchot. She has won The Athena List, in association with Amazon Studios, and the Galway Film Fleadh Best Pitch Award, and is a producer of the award-winning documentary Shelter in Place. She has written extensively about cinema and culture for books and publications, including the Guardian, Time Out, and Sight & Sound, is editor of the acclaimed essay collection Poetic Visions of America: The Cinema of Terence Malick, and regularly hosts Q&As for festivals and venues such as the BFI, the Barbican, BAFTA, and Curzon. Ungone, her first novel, is published by Rough Trade Books.
About Solvej
Solvej Balle is a Danish writer. She is best known for her multi-volume work of fiction, On the Calculation of Volume, the first three books of which won the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the first book of which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.
Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode
Order On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle and pick up a copy of Ungone from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.
Find Hannah Patterson on Instagram here.
Find Glenn Fisher on Instagram here.
Find The Library of Lazy Thinking on Instagram here.
About the Library
The Library of Lazy Thinking is a place to hang out and learn more about books. If you’d like to support the library and get access to everything here, you can become a paid member (and get an exclusive The Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge). All support goes back into the library, helping to organize live events, exclusive merchandise, and more podcasts.
About Glenn
Glenn Fisher is a writer—wait, Glenn Fisher is me. I’m the one writing this. Let’s drop the third-person act. My writing has been published in Lunate, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, 3am Magazine, Dogmatika, and Litro Magazine. I write about books and interview other writers and artists here in The Library of Lazy Thinking. I live in Sheffield and work as a freelance copywriter. I have had a best-selling non-fiction book published on the subject called The Art of the Click. It was published by Harriman House and shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese and Korean. I also have a dog called Pablo. He is harder to translate. Indeed, most of my life revolves around trying to understand his often unreasonable demands. Meanwhile, I am currently working on my first novel. Brave/bold agents: hit me up.
