Ravage: An Astonishment of Fire

Ravage: An Astonishment of Fire is a collection of two previously unpublished manuscripts by Norwegian-Shetlandic poet Kristján Norge, along with rare original material, providing insight into his troubled existence and mysterious disappearance. The collection includes the opening triadic poem, Optik: A History of Ghost, which is a meditation on Greek optics, horary ghostliness, and illumination by fire. The centerpiece of the collection is Ravage, a numinous tract written in the months preceding Norge's disappearance in 1961, convinced he was a demon. The collection is supplemented by additional archival materials that flesh out Norge's intellectual and personal concerns, including a detailed schema of his amnesiac process, items of correspondence, maps, photographs, and logbook entries.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 360 pages
Publication date: 16 November 2023
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd

Ravage: An Astonishment of Fire is a captivating exploration into the life and work of Norwegian-Shetlandic poet Kristján Norge, who mysteriously vanished from Eilean a Bhàis in the Outer Hebrides in 1961. This comprehensive collection brings together two previously unpublished manuscripts by Norge, Optik: A History of Ghost (1950) and Ravage (1961), along with rare original material, providing insight into the troubled existence and enigmatic disappearance of the renowned artist.

Optik: A History of Ghost, the opening triadic poem, exemplifies Kristján Norge's early work and serves as a meditation on Greek optics, horary ghostliness, and illumination by fire. Composed in 1950, Optik draws upon letters twelve and thirteen of the correspondence between scientist-inventor Sir David Brewster and Sir Walter Scott on natural magic, to isolate the figure of John Christ, whom Norge portrays as a visionary homunculus created from the saline ash of alchemical phantasmic experiments.

Ravage, the centerpiece of the collection, is a numinous tract written in the months preceding Kristján Norge's disappearance in 1961, convinced that he was a demon. Washed up in a storm, subsistence on Bàs had become increasingly strained on Norge, who felt his self-exiled status intensely. In response to both this isolation and the unexpected revelation of his demoniacal status, Norge evolved a complex amnesiac system, aware that if only he could forget this singular aspect of himself, then release might follow. Inevitably cryptic, this Norgesian schema has been recovered from fragments concealed at ten sites on the Scottish island. Norge's impression of Eilean a Bhàis as an underworld threshold lent weight to his suspicion that the island was indeed attracting the Sluagh nam Marbh, or Host of the Dead, a Gaelic westerly wind of ma.

Through his extensive research and meticulous analysis, author MacGillivray has pieced together the enigmatic life and work of Kristján Norge, shedding light on the complexities of his troubled existence and the enigmatic circumstances surrounding his mysterious disappearance. Ravage: An Astonishment of Fire is a testament to the enduring legacy of this talented poet and a must-read for anyone interested in the realms of literature, art, and the supernatural.

Dimension: 234 x 156 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781780376776