The Wise Man from the Sea

This is a collection of previously unpublished texts, collected from letters, notebooks and excerpts from the novels by the acclaimed Faroese writer and artist William Heinesen. With these, the English reader has access to his philosophy and worldview. He writes on the extensive connections between consciousness and cosmos, poetry and religion, humanity and mankind, the human and the humane. The texts contain observations on childhood, old age, and his own life’s work. Additionally, the texts contain thoughts on science, politics, and acculturated European ideas spanning from antiquity up until modern society, leading finally to how Heinesen worked to address his fight against the cultural polarization that characterized his time.