On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV)

Synopsis

More than halfway through Solvej Balle's extraordinary seven-volume series, Tara Selter's impossible world begins to change. Once entirely alone in an endless November 18th, she now discovers others living within the same suspended day. Gathered together in a house in Bremen, these strangers begin to build a new kind of society, searching for words to describe what has happened to them and imagining what life might become when time no longer moves forward.

In On the Calculation of Volume IV, Balle expands her remarkable meditation on time into an exploration of language, community, and the fragile structures that hold people together. Ambitious, quietly philosophical, and endlessly surprising, the series continues to redefine what the novel can be.

About the Author

Solvej Balle is a Danish novelist and publisher whose work has earned international acclaim for its originality and formal innovation. The On the Calculation of Volume series has received the Nordic Council Literature Prize and established Balle as one of the most important contemporary writers working today. Book IV is translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell.

Publisher
New Directions

Publication Date
April 14, 2026

Format
Paperback

Pages
176

Subjects
Literary Fiction · Translated Fiction · Danish Literature · Speculative Fiction

ISBN
9780811238410