”A magnificent masterpiece on the significance of dissection in western culture”
VG, Books of the Year, 2009
“[Stueland is] an accomplished poet, a clear and pointed critic and a knowledgeable and surprising essayist … [his writing is distinguished by] knowledge, commitment and a deep will to explain what it means to be alive”
Jury statement, Sparebanken Vest Artist’s Endowment, 2009
”A beautiful monster of a book, a stained masterpiece, reeking of formalin … a magnum opus, a major work which has barely seen its equal in modern Norwegian literature … Stueland’s accomplishment is due to a deep understanding of medical history as a central field in the history of society… The project itself, the examples used and the sheer power of the story, the narrative energy, is so convincing. I have rarely seen a similar curiosity and hunger for knowledge. It is as if Stueland wishes to create a new, integrated subject of culture all on his own, which surprisingly links the field and phenomena that many have heard of, but not given much thought to … Stueland writes in such a clear, pointed and good way, that the parts I have enjoyed the most have been the longest passages … Stueland writes excellently about the painter Francis Bacon and “the beauty of the ruptured blood vessel” … I give thanks to both the author and the publisher for the remarkable boldness that surrounds this project. As long as somebody dares to gamble like this, literary culture is safe”
Morgenbladet
“This extensive documentation and discussion of the history and importance of dissection is a high point of his career … Stueland displays an overwhelming knowledge of art and literature, history of mentality and philosophy, medicine and social studies … Stueland’s treatment of relevant authors is equally thorough and exciting … I read it as a fascinating essayistic dance with the dead, naked body as protagonist … To dance with this 780 page text can appear as a literary marathon. However, you will be rewarded regularly en route”
VG
”Morbid elegance. Wow, what a beautiful book … We’re offered a journey in dissection and the body’s cultural history. I am immediately struck by how rich dissection is as an image – as a prism of our culture. I could not wait to slide my review scalpel along this book, and unlike the anatomical dissection table, the smell would be a plesant one … He lets the history of medical dissection form the backbone of the book, whilst the heart remains in the literature … Equipped with these glasses, Stueland makes his elegant and wonderfully morbid cuts into our corpus of idea history. However, when it becomes necessary he applies his tongs and saw. Through the Flesh establishes an impressive interdisciplinary perspective … This is a scholarly work, but there’s nothing vain about it … The wide perspective ensures that many will enjoy this book.”
Bergens Tidende
”This publication is something as rare as a scholarly and impeccable essay …Through the Flesh is embossed by a language which is confident in its style”
Prosa
”The project may be termed as extended cultural history … His text is scientific and historic, and with a rich diversity that makes it an essay of the most lavish kind. Through 780 pages we encounter a waterfall of knowledge, a flood of references, illustrations, associations … This is cultural history at its very best … Stueland thinks and writes well, and, where a more traditional account of the history of ideas might have been wearisome and bogged down by a fetish of facts, Stueland leads us from one striking point to another, through a frantic search for empiric closeness … The publishing house must be praised for publishing such a daring project, a spectacular effort in a time where many publishers shrink away from their responsibilities as imparting voices … The text is capable of making you think. And that is a fine deed”
Klassekampen
”Stueland is driven by an enthusiastic curiosity, and provides the historic essay literature with a much needed lift. The book is a mosaic of story and analysis, based on a number of reference books one suspects the author must have read. Everything is woven together with a sharp associative method. An encyclopedic madness. More please!”
Books of the Year 2009, Aftenposten
”A more complex and strange project has seldom seen the light of day in this country … Through the Flesh is a knowledgeable masterpiece of a book”
Stavanger Aftenblad
