When death takes something from you give it back : Carl's book / Naja Marie Aidt ; translated by Denise Newman.

Aidt, Naja Marie, 1963-, author
Newman, Denise J., translator

London : Quercus, 2020.

141 pages ; 20 cm

This translation originally published: 2019.
Translated from the Danish.
Includes bibliographical references.

In March 2015, Naja Marie Aidt's 25-year-old son, Carl, died in a tragic accident. 'When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back' is about losing a child. It is about formulating a vocabulary to express the deepest kind of pain. And it's about finding a way to write about a reality invaded by grief, lessened by loss. Faced with the sudden emptiness of language, Naja finds solace in the anguish of Joan Didion, Nick Cave, C.S. Lewis, Mallarmé, Plato and other writers who have suffered the deadening impact of loss. This palimpsest of mourning enables Naja to turn over the pathetic, precious transience of existence and articulates her greatest fear: to forget. The insistent compulsion to reconstruct the harrowing aftermath of Carl's death keeps him painfully present, while fragmented memories, journal entries and poetry inch her closer to piecing Carl's life together.

English PEN Award

9781787475380 (pbk)

839.81374
839.81374 AID
839.813
839.81374AID

English
Danish

No reviews available as yet
Add your review

2903884