A Line in the World Praised in The Wall Street Journal

The US edition of Dorthe Nors’s essay collection A Line in the World has been lauded in yet another review, this time from The Wall Street Journal:

“In a thorough but unsystematic fashion, the writing encompasses the nature, history and provincial customs of this harsh and highly romanticized corner of the country. […] Curious, memorable details like this crop up everywhere in A Line in the World, as Ms. Nors is ever on the hunt for the secret seams of passion. […] In of the loveliest essays, she and her artist friend Signe Parkins make a whirlwind day tour of Jutland’s church frescoes. […] But in the expressive, sometimes naively made paintings, the women find the same spark of energy palpable in Ms. Nors’s writing – the urge to create something that will survive the shifting sands and ’transcend time’. If that is too much to expect, this book nevertheless possesses the humbler virtues of discernment and admiration. Ms. Nors’s fiction can be quite funny and outspoken […] but the tone here, in Caroline Waight’s translation, is gentle and considered. It has clearly been her intention to avoid both tourist gawking and big-city condescension, and the result is both revealing and respectful. It struck me as a rare thing to read a work of travel writing that was this beautiful yet did not provoke me in any desire to actually visit the place. I hope that Ms. Nors’s neighbors will appreciate her honesty and discretion and forgive her for the sin of speaking about their world.”

A Line in the World was published in the US by Graywolf Press on November 1st.