On the Calculation of Volume (parts I and II)听
Solvej Balle, translated (from Danish) by Barbara J. Haveland
(UK);听听(US)
Advertisement
On his 70th birthday, Albert Einstein received a manuscript from his friend, the logician Kurt G枚del, that mathematically demonstrated something he had conjectured, but never proven: according to his general theory of relativity it was possible for space-time to bend and close in on itself, creating a loop to the past.
It was an extraordinary development, but one that troubled many physicists 鈥� so much so that it led Stephen Hawking years later to make his 鈥渃hronology protection conjecture鈥�, according to which the laws of physics prohibit time travel.听This meant that time loops were relegated to philosophical experiments and science fiction, where they have become a tired trope burdened by predictable action-packed plots and cheesy grandfather paradoxes.
On the Calculation of Volume, Solvej Balle鈥檚 seven-part novel, is a welcome change of pace that slows down the temporal experiment and creates a meditative space where we can explore the illusory effects of time. The first two parts of the novel are now available in English, and part I has just been for the 2025 International Booker prize.
For Balle鈥檚 protagonist Tara Selter, an antiquarian book dealer in northern France, the arrow of time is broken: each day, without knowing how or why, she wakes up to 18 November, which repeats itself with no end in sight. By the time we meet Tara, she has been through 120 iterations of the same day, and the novelty of this situation has turned into claustrophobic ennui. What more could there be to discover about a day one has lived so many times before?
Unlike many time-loop experiments, Tara isn鈥檛 subject to a daily reset 鈥� she can travel, begin the day in different places, repeat the same routine or change it slightly, and remember what she did on each 18 November. Everybody else, however, lives the day in the same manner, as if for the first 鈥� and only 鈥� time. Balle鈥檚 innovative set-up isolates her character in a confounding, introspective experience while granting her enough agency to change her course 鈥� if she chooses.
The novel鈥檚 contemplative prose (lucidly translated by Barbara J. Haveland) and slow, structureless plot lull the reader with their repetitiveness 鈥� but this is intentional, done to immerse us in Tara鈥檚 stagnant world. For most of the first part, Tara spends her days observing details, finding patterns and writing them down with the dim hope of discovering a way out of her temporal prison.
Ordinary events that were once new become a choreographed performance: she comes to know exactly when the birds will sing, when the rain will fall, when the tap will run. Sensory details turn into a rhythm she memorises and anticipates. 鈥淚 find my way into a predictable world, a pattern that acquires more and more detail,鈥� she reflects in her journal. Like the narrator in Marcel Proust鈥檚 In Search of Lost Time, habit tyrannically begins to numb perception and impede the protagonist鈥檚 self-discovery.
By the end of part I, we find Tara ready to break out of this monotony and take control of her future days, even if whatever futile change she achieves will be reset the next morning. In part II, Tara attempts to recreate the sensation of time by travelling to places where the climate matches her internal calendar. On what, for her, feels like 25 December, she recruits her family to celebrate Christmas 鈥� even if for them it is only mid-November. The sensation of time passing, Balle reminds us, is critical to creating a sense of self.
On the Calculation of Volume calls our attention to the illusion of time鈥檚 dulling effects. As a prediction machine, the brain quickly becomes habituated to repeated stimuli, expecting their recurrence while diminishing our emotional response to them. By making us aware of this numbing process, Balle encourages us to harness our powers of observation and remain alert to the world around us, which is never truly as constant as our minds would have us believe.
