Peter Stamm's 'Paysages aléatoires' Explores Time and Identity

Swiss German author Peter Stamm's third novel, 'Paysages aléatoires' (Random Landscapes), published by Christian Bourgois éditeur, follows Kathrine, a 28-year-old divorced customs officer and mother to Randy. The narrative disrupts linear time, opening in April and swiftly moving through seasons. Set in a Norwegian fishing village oppressed by polar night, the story examines Kathrine's struggle for meaning. She marries Thomas, a charming but pathological liar who spends hours in a forest cabin pretending to run. Kathrine leaves everything for a trip to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, seeking purpose. The novel avoids grandiosity; Kathrine's return is not a parable but a literal revolution. After 200 pages, she resumes her place in a temporal topography she now accepts: Randy returns from his grandmother's, seasons cycle, night and day come. Laurent Goumarre reviews the work in artpress.