Tramp Or the Art of Living a Wild and Poetic Life

"Even as his fame has grown in his native Norway, the range of what Tomas Espedal writes about has shrunk. Instead of an ever-expanding autobiographical space in which to tell his life story, Espedal's project is more of a paring-down, an endlessly repeated return to a single scene. In Tramp: Or the Art of Living a Wild and Poetic Life, Espedal journeys on foot to places like Germany, Wales, Greece, and Turkey, meeting a host of interesting figures along the way. . . . In establishing the silent context of family and home, Espedal brings to the foreground a past that is far more distant and not as clear-cut as the travels he explicitly relates. Chronological time and authorial distance give way to a personal history that is at once more primordial, and in its way, more poetic. Espedal's memoir thus becomes an especially vivid and deeply satisfying account of a 'wild and poetic life.' " -- David M. Smith * Contrary *

Tomas Espedal is the author of several novels and prose collections, including Bergeners, Against Art, Against Nature, and The Year, all published by Seagull Books. James Andersons literary translations from Norwegian include several books by Tomas Espedal and Thorvald Steen.

Part 1 Why not begin with a street Going to the dogs Before I go An impossible living room The dream of vanishing To walk away from a relationship A lonely wanderer's reveries I should have had a trade Down the open road Swansea. Wales. Summer '98 Staufen. Germany. Spring '99 The origin of loneliness So full of leave-taking The perfect day I found a resting place Breakfast with the Dales in Modal To the mountains Night in the mountains The sun's reveille With Anders vreb at Ortnevik Boots and the Man, I sing! At the hairdresser's Faun's evening To go alone or with a companion The wayfaring books The diaries An attempt A midsummer night's dream Sleeping out On the beach Part 2 Sports and entertainment Giacometti and the prostitutes The Rimbaud route How does a journey begin? Finding the way Out of Greece, into Turkey Walking the streets of Istanbul The Lycian way A sojourn at Olympos Homesickness Epilogue