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Antiphony
The narrator, a young social scientist who works for a newspaper in Oslo, goes to Northern Norway on leave after a colleague tells her she lacks initiative. On the surface she is supposed to write a book about structural relationships among the Sami (formerly Lapps). However, loneliness, in spite of a good social life with her friends in Oslo, a tense relationship with her own family, and a feeling of stagnation in her career seem to be the main reasons for her going away.
She becomes acquainted with three generations of Sami women, hears their stories and attempts to make sense of them. Soon she loses her role as impartial observer and becomes more involved in their lives. The more she discovers, the less she feels she understands.
The novel presents a wonderful picture of Sami culture in transition and in the face of inevitable outside forces. In this sense it is a much more universal work demonstrating how an indigenous culture reacts to a dominant culture and what happens over the course of a relatively short period. The novel is also an anti- or non-ethnography in a sense, blurring the lines between the center/periphery (narrator/Sami women).
She becomes acquainted with three generations of Sami women, hears their stories and attempts to make sense of them. Soon she loses her role as impartial observer and becomes more involved in their lives. The more she discovers, the less she feels she understands.
The novel presents a wonderful picture of Sami culture in transition and in the face of inevitable outside forces. In this sense it is a much more universal work demonstrating how an indigenous culture reacts to a dominant culture and what happens over the course of a relatively short period. The novel is also an anti- or non-ethnography in a sense, blurring the lines between the center/periphery (narrator/Sami women).
144 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2007
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 20, 2020
This book delivered so much more than expected. Deftly composed and translated, as much poetry as prose, it offers a deceptively simple account of three generations of Sámi women adapting in different ways to their circumstances. With exquisite detail and rhythmic ellipses, Stein evokes their complex inner lives, and in the dance between observer and observed, illustrates the inherent subjectivity of ethnography. Likely to confuse readers without some understanding of the religious, linguistic, and cultural genocide. Certain to break the hearts of its diaspora, however far removed.
January 29, 2024
“‘You can't row straight with just one oar,’ she can say. I know that there is a great lack in me. Alone you are no one. Here more clearly than any other place I have been.”
This was a really difficult book to navigate. You almost have to sort of let go of your analytical and conscious faculties and just sink into the writing with your feeling and your emotions. It feels a little like scrying—almost like you’re trying to make out recognizable images and sensations and when you do see something clearly, you hone in on it like a foothold, and then use that to try to reach the next foothold, until you feel like you’re starting to grasp a little bit of the world, the themes, and the experiences being presented in the narrative.
Click here to read my full review of ANTIPHONY by Laila Stien on storygraph complete with my full thoughts, further reading suggestions, and more of my favorite quotes!
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CW // genocide, forced institutionalization, strained family relationships, terminal illness (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews