Life at the Edge of the World

J. Carlisle presents the most significant contemporary philosophical takes on coping with the Absurd as accessible and thoughtful allegory in his second work Life at the Edge of the World. It depicts a sequence of absurd characters living at peak irony, all the while peeling away the layers of civility and social pretences which separate the protagonist Gunaf from his furry companion Bur. Their physical journey takes them to the actual edge of the world simultaneous with the stripping away of the last vestiges of Gunaf's humanity. There he must confront the embodiment of nothingness and examine the purpose of his own life. In the far north lies a small village pushed up against an impenetrable mountainside. The elders teach that their home marks the furthest limit of human civilization, and that beyond the high and snowy ridge at their backs lies the final end of all creation, the edge of the world. An unusually warm season brings unwelcome invaders from the south, but it also begins to thaw a long-forgotten pass through the mountains. Gunaf's family and neighbors choose to surrender to the invaders, but he embarks with his beloved pet on a quest begun by his ancestors to reach the true edge of the world. What he finds there will change his life forever, if he lives.