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Marble

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Recently unearthed from the ground, Marble leaves her new lover in Copenhagen and travels to Athens. The city is overflowing with colour, steam and fragrance, cats cry like babies at night, the economic crisis is raging. In this volatile landscape, Marble grasps the world by exploring its immediate surfaces. Capturing specks of colour on ancient sculptures in the Acropolis Museum with an infrared camera, she simultaneously traces the pioneering sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, who spent several months in the same place 110 years earlier. Far away from her husband and children, Carl-Nielsen showed that Archaic sculptures were originally painted in bright colours – a feat which meant defying Victorian gender roles and jeopardising her marriage.

Amalie Smith ignites everyday encounters into sites of revelation and metamorphosis. Sensuous and electric, yet admirably forensic in its approach to mineral life, Marble is a galvanizing novel about the materials life is made of, about korai and sponge diving, about looking and looking again, written in a spare and pellucid style.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

10 people are currently reading
401 people want to read

About the author

Amalie Smith

17 books66 followers
Amalie Smith er en dansk forfatter og billedkunstner. Hun tog afgang fra Forfatterskolen i 2009 og er masterstuderende på Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi.

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5 stars
75 (25%)
4 stars
140 (48%)
3 stars
63 (21%)
2 stars
8 (2%)
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5 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for Paul Dembina.
697 reviews167 followers
July 4, 2022
Not really a novel as such more an intriguing musing on various topics coated with a veneer of fiction. Reminded me of WG Sebald's work.
Profile Image for Robert.
2,315 reviews260 followers
March 24, 2021
How exactly does one describe Marble? It’s about a person called Marble, who travels to the past because she finds out that the inhabitants of the Archaic period in Greece actually used color when constructing their temples. At the same time she is tracking the sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Neilson, who was in the exact same spot Marble is in now back in 1903 because she also discovered that Archaic temples had elements of color . So yes, there are two time periods at the same. Want more? – there’s sections about sponge diving, the bends and free standing Archaic structures, otherwise known as korai, there’s 3D Printers and, infrared cameras. However this plot is not a mess. Everything connects.

In that Ali Smith/Isabel Waidner way, Amalie Smith manages to stuff a lot of topics in an economic way. My description may sound confusing but in reality, Marble (the book) is easy to understand and can be read in one sitting, with a more thorough analysis second time round. At the same time reading the book is a learning experience. Naturally there are deeper themes. Feminism is a dominant one. Ancient and modern technology is another. Love, fidelity, marriage and art.

If you are a fan of experimental literature then this is a must. If you’ve never read or are scared of experimental literature than this is a good starting place. Marble is not a daunting read, yet it is an enriching and rewarding one.
Profile Image for Kokonöt.
142 reviews6 followers
March 8, 2017
Såååå underbar bok! Exakt vad jag vill läsa om. Material; svamp, koraller och marmor. Fantastiskt! Fick dock spader när en killes kyssar beskrevs som att de smakade "tobak och bröstkarameller". Men annars
Profile Image for Olgaliva.
30 reviews
April 21, 2015
Spændende, den får fem stjerne næste gang jeg læser den og forstår den.
Profile Image for Claire (Silver Linings and Pages).
251 reviews24 followers
Read
January 1, 2021
Marble has recently been unearthed from the ground and leaves her lover in Copenhagen for Athens, where at the Acropolis she tries to understand art, reality, love, absence and presence. Marble was original, and while some of it went over my head, very interesting. Not quite sure how to rate it, I think 3-4 🌟 for me, though I see other readers have absolutely loved it. Give it a go!

Thank you Lolli Editions for the advance review copy.
Profile Image for Nikos Dunno.
287 reviews8 followers
November 18, 2021
The author had either visited Greece and stayed there for a while, or did great research to create not only the historical background of the story but to also present the cultural pulse of Athens. I did feel that at times it was showcasing that research more than it was investing in the plot, and had it been about any other country I would probably rate it lower. Being greek myself though I think I was destined to enjoy it even more for transporting me back to places where I've breathed, walked and lived before.
Profile Image for Jacob Møller.
20 reviews
March 12, 2025
Super fed bog om former, overflade, farver, modellering, kærlighed, kunst, håndværk og ikke mindst græske marmorstatuer🗿
Profile Image for Bjorn.
992 reviews188 followers
April 1, 2018
A novel of surfaces. The entirety of post-renaissance history is a lie, based on white plaster copies of antique marble works that were supposed to be painted - maybe to hide the natural translucence of marble. It's all made of coral corpses, full of tiny holes, and the light can penetrate it. It's a material that lives. You can't say for sure what the "original" version is; the deterioration, the damage, is part of the story a sculpture, or a temple, tells.

(Modern restoration guidelines forbid restoration of antiques to "original" condition - you have to preserve the whole story. You'd have to tear down everything back to and including Stonehenge otherwise.)

White, blank surfaces tell a story. In the novel, only the pages filled with text are numbered; the 104 pages it claims are actually far more. The blank pages are part of it but not part of it.

"We're told the Greeks were the first to abstain from painting their three-dimensional art. That they were able to think abstractly and grandiosely because they saw beyond surfaces into the world of ideas. That the unpainted marble proves the superiority of Western culture."

"Says who?"

"Renaissance thinkers. Neoclassicists."

"But they're dead. If they want to read that much into the material, let them."

"But antiquity is still white, Daniel."


Into all this philosophizing on the viscosity of art and history and the reality of simulacra, Smith weaves two love stories - one contemporary, and one of the early 20th century sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen. Which is where the novel starts to feel a bit too... well, like a simulation. The story feels a bit... not necessarily tacked on, but like it's partly there to sell as a novel rather than an essay. Rather than penetrate beneath the surfaces, the dialogue and romantic woes anchor the novel up top. For better or worse.
Profile Image for Johan Thilander.
495 reviews44 followers
August 26, 2017
Amalie Smith var den jag tyckte klart bäst om i antologin Nervsystem (2015), så blir glad när ellerströms väljer att satsa på henne.
Detta är en fantastisk bok, texten känns nästan taktil.
Profile Image for Sara Hughes.
284 reviews10 followers
April 22, 2024
i really hated this at the beginning but when i started to explain why i hated it to josiah, i realized that the subject at hand was actually really interesting and i just hated the weird experimental writing style! once i got used it, it got really good (it took me about 60 pages or so). it’s about how ancient sculptures were actually painted bright colors but we only see their restorations in white. there are a lot of layers to that, no pun intended. i also thought that all the decompression sickness stuff was crazy!
Profile Image for Doenja.
89 reviews1 follower
August 22, 2022

A truly relaxed face is the face of the dead, Daniel thinks.
In sleep, too, your face is on display, tautly stretched
like a kite in the wind of a dream.
P25
Profile Image for Lea Vilhelmsen.
21 reviews11 followers
July 21, 2015
Fantastisk flot sprog og billeder bogen får frem. Så mange flotte enkeltstående billeder der møder en undervejs. At man virkelig kan mærke undervejs, hvordan man veksler ind over litteraturens, kunstens, tidens og kærlighedens sfærer. Det er ret imponerende og så en smuk bog at ha mellem hænderne mens man får de flotte billeder.

'Ensomheden ved at se ind i et andet farvespektrum er overvældende. Som at være alene et befolket sted.'

'- Det tomme rum er alt for meget, siger Marble. Alle de punkter, hvorfra tomheden peger på sig selv.'

'Marie går ind i verden med hænderne forrest. Livtag, kunne man sige. Greb om. Skulpturen er det, man kan komme rundt om, se fra alle sider.'

At jeg havde fået en indføring i Anne Marie Carl Nielsens liv inden læsning gav en god forforståelse.
Profile Image for Mette.
9 reviews
April 19, 2015
Marble er et cool bud på en krydsning mellem romanen, kunsthistorien, dokumentaren, undersøgelsen af materialet.

Selv blev jeg først fanget midtvejs, da jeg havde accepteret bogens fragmenterede og fabulerende stil, og fundet styrken i den blanding, den er. Kombinationen af marmorkvinden Marble, den historiske kvinde Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, begges kærlighedsrelationer og undersøgelser af marmoret væves sammen til en ny oplevelse af marmoret.

Jeg har lyst til at være ellevild, men lander på 3 stjerner, da jeg alligevel ikke følte mig helt inde under huden på marmorskulpturerne.
Profile Image for K's Bognoter.
1,048 reviews97 followers
January 21, 2015
Amalie Smiths nye roman om marmorkvinden Marble er ambitiøst og originalt tænkt, men den kommer desværre ikke ind under marmoroverfladen.

Ideen med Marble er spændende og sympatisk, og jeg ville gerne have været mere begejstret for denne bog. Men det meste af historien lod mig underligt uberørt.

Læs hele min anmeldelse her: http://bognoter.dk/2014/10/30/amalie-...
Profile Image for Viktor.
93 reviews12 followers
March 16, 2017
Marble - eller kunsten at lave yderst bevidst kunst.
Profile Image for Marcus Regnander.
80 reviews8 followers
November 12, 2017
Marble” är en intressant uppbyggd bok om två konstnärer som gör sin grej på samma plats men i varsin tid. Smith parallellar skickligt mellan de olika tiderna och ger konstnärerna ett spännande samspel och belyser deras likheter trots att mer än hundra år skiljer dem åt. Platsen de delar är bland de antika statyerna i Grekland, där båda ger nytt liv åt gammal konst, utan att egentligen skapa något helt eget eller nytt. Marble i vår nutid kopierar och reproducerar statyer med infraröd kamera, Anne-Marie Nielsen i början av nittonhundratalet kopierar med gips. Jag ler åt metanivån av att Smith själv reproducerar genom att lyfta fram skulpturer som konstform, och den historiskt existerande konstnärinnan Anne-Marie. Om det finns likheter kring författarens privatliv har jag ingen aning om, men båda romanens kvinnor är besatta i sitt skapande och har vacklande oförstående män vid sidan av.


Smith växlar mellan att skriva dialoger, löpande berättande och brev, vilket ger och fler bottnar till berättelsen. Men alla delar är skrivna i sprängfyllda av mening där inget känns överflödigt men allt bjuder till associationer och tolkningar.

Det är oväntat mycket luft i boken överlag, en underlig sidnumrering och tomma blad efter varje kapitel. Omslaget är vitt med bara titeln, kanten på sidorna vackert gröna. Smith låter saker hända utanför raderna och låter istället tystnaden, ytan och tomrummen tala. Textformen får mig att tänka över tekniken att inte berätta allt, utan lita på att läsaren lägger ihop delarna de presteras. Smith startar med sitt skrivsätt en reflektion i mig om hur orden skapar samband och associationer, men hur det är våra hjärnor som måste slutföra dem. Ord och böcker är uppskjutningsbanor och fyrverkerier, men våra hjärnor är det himlavalv som avgör om något alls kommer synas eller inte.

Jag förstår att jag inte läser en regelrätt roman, det är ofta stillastående i handlingen och vi rör oss istället bland olika nivåer av abstraktion.

Jag är svag för allvar och stora känslor, och även om det emellanåt är snuddande nära pretentiöst (finns förresten den gränsen någon annanstans än i mig som läsare?) så läser jag med stor behållning en allvarlig bok om yta kontra djup och innehåll. Boken skapar ett intresse för skulpturer som konstform, något som aldrig intresserat tidigare, men som med allt blir det spännande när man får lära sig lite mer. Jag tänker på hur egyptiska statyer inte utgör en avbild av något, utan är det de föreställer, men jag vet inte hur grekerna såg på sina statyer, och jag missar kanske något skikt av metaforer i och med detta. De upprepande referenserna till korallernas tillvaro någonstans emellan det vi kallar levande och död materia, bidrar också till tankarna. Kanske vill Smith ge oss perspektiv på hur vi skapar oss själva hela tiden.

Och det är just synen på konst och tolkningsmöjligheterna som är den stora behållningen i Smiths bok, jag är egentligen ganska ointresserad av karaktärerna. Kanske är det ett medvetet grepp kring yta kontra substans, som om Smith vill säga mig att det kan dölja sig mer substans i konsten än i levande personer? För det måste ändå vara dit Smith vill ta oss, till tankarna om vad som är en människa och vad som är konst. En ledtråd gömmer sig antagligen i tanken att om konst strävade efter att skildra verkligheten vore allt enkelt. Konst måste alltså lyckas med mer än bara återskapa verkligheten!

Det är iallafall så jag läser slutet.


Boken innehåller många vackra meningar, och jag tar framförallt med mig den fantastiska:

”Kan man vara lycklig därför att man har gått sönder?”


...Och, kanske glömmer jag alla de här tolkningar, fina citaten och metaforerna i framtiden, men den barnsliga snubben i mig kommer antagligen fortsätta minnas och älska bilden av någon som tänder sin cigg med pistol!
Profile Image for Caroline Barnett.
17 reviews1 follower
September 21, 2025
‘Marble’ is a boldly experimental novel by the Danish writer and artist, Amalie Smith, which examines form, colour and the materials that life is made of in a translation by Jennifer Russell. It’s a short book written in succinct and poetic prose that can easily be read in one sitting.

The story of two relationships runs through the book. The first is about Marble who has recently been unearthed from the ground and who leaves her new lover to travel to Athens. The second is about the real life trailblazing female sculptor, Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (1863- 1945) married to the composer Carl Nielsen who worked in Athens and showed that archaic white sculptures were originally painted in bright colours.

I hadn’t heard of the sculptor who was the first woman in the world to be commissioned to make an equestrian statue of a king and to make the bronze doors of a cathedral. I loved this aspect of the book about a pioneering artist who defied Victorian gender roles causing strife in her marriage. As Carl Nielsen writes in an excerpt from one of his actual letters to his wife some of which are reproduced in the book: ‘if only we for once could lead a peaceful, industrious, progressive life together. But I fear this will never be so. You wish to be a strong man, indeed, preferably to outdo the strongest of men.’

‘Marble’ is written in fragments and letters and is almost like a sculpture in itself. The author has said that she ‘was thinking of the book as a sculpture, a three-dimensional space where you could place different fragments next to each other.’

Amalie Smith’s earlier novel, ‘Thread Ripper’ (see my earlier review) is also structured in a way that responds to its subject matter and both books are beautiful physical objects published by Lolli Editions. As the author has said of ‘Marble’ she is interested in the physicality of the book itself ‘conceiving’ the book as a material, a physical object, almost like a sculpture, and making that part of the writing process’.

While I enjoyed ‘Marble’, for me ‘Thread Ripper’ is more immediately engaging and, if you are new to this writer, I would definitely start there. However, I found ‘Marble’ fascinating and as with ‘Thread Ripper’ it made me read around the book to discover more about its subject matter which I love and I look forward to seeing where Amalie Smith goes next.
Profile Image for Tilly.
145 reviews20 followers
March 12, 2021
My last #womenintranslation read was this intriguing and unique book by Danish author and visual artist Amalie Smith. At its core, Marble feels like a critique of art history, examining the inherent 'whiteness' and male domination of the art scene through the years. With an interspersed narrative that follows the real life of trailblazing Danish sculptor, Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, the story divulges the myth that sculptures are unearthed white, their colour removed and erased, absent of polychromy.

It is clear that the author operates in the artistic space; this novel is as much a fragmentary story as it is a physical object, like a piece of art or a carefully crafted sculpture. Far from a traditional narrative, this books feels like a work of experimentation, a new form of narrative art that brings together the vivid, atmospheric landscape of Athens and an evocative tactility, with the internal musings of creator and a maker. There are moments of dazzling brilliance, the prose a form of poetic art in itself (like the quote above).

I read an interesting interview with the author on the Lolli website after I'd finished reading Marble; hearing about her writing process really helped connect my thoughts on the book ♡
https://www.lollieditions.com/lolli-i...
Profile Image for Matilde Fogh.
31 reviews8 followers
April 22, 2021
Sindssygt flotte metaforer. Meget drømmende og abstrakt sprog. Der var flere steder, hvor jeg blev ramt af kuldegysninger fordi sætningerne virkelig skabte livsbekræftende billeder. Men desværre var den ret svær at forstå, helt handlingsmæssigt. Relationerne mellem diverse karakterer var svære for mig at afkode og jeg følte af og til, at det mere blev opremsende fremfor medrivende. Meget nørdet, som på sin vis er super fedt - men jeg manglede forklaring flere steder. Derudover et interessant og skiftende tidsbillede. Gode dialoger.

Jeg er i tvivl om hvad jeg egentlig føler omkring bogen. Tre stjerner.
Profile Image for Artemis-Anna.
2 reviews
February 5, 2021
A different kind of read for me — if you’re interested in classical sculpture/art, romanticism and philosophy, give this one a go. Some of it went over my head but the romantic elements and letters wove parts of the story together nicely. If you’re looking for a holiday or quick read, this may be for you!
Profile Image for Catherine Books_on_the_Rock.
163 reviews
December 6, 2020
Very hard to rate this book. I read it more as a piece of art to be appreciated rather than a story to enjoy. It was fascinating to read because it was so different. A lot of it was beyond my comprehension.
Profile Image for Carla Ruby Bang.
22 reviews
May 26, 2021
Enormt æstetisk, med fuldstændigt fantastiske beskrivelser af kunsten og mennesket i samspil. Mangler dog en anelse dybde i karaktererne.
Profile Image for Filip Myrberg.
17 reviews
January 10, 2023
Svårt att läsa på danska. Men bra. Eftersom jag läst threadripper precis innan hjälpte det mycket då jag såg en del likheter i hur böckerna är uppbyggda, även om dom behandlar olika ämnen.
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