On William T. Vollmann's The Ice-Shirt

In this episode of Literary Ramblings, we take on William T. Vollmann's ambitious and unconventional novel The Ice-Shirt, the first volume in his Seven Dreams series. Blending Norse sagas, mythology, history, and contemporary travel, Vollmann revisits the Viking exploration of North America and the Norse encounters with the Indigenous peoples already inhabiting the land.
We discuss the novel's central characters, the symbolism of the Ice-Shirt, and Vollmann's larger meditation on exploration, colonization, and cultural conflict. We also consider how myths and ancient histories shape our understanding and appreciation of a place, and whether knowing the stories behind a landscape allows us to experience it more deeply.
As always, we debate the writing, the ideas, and ultimately whether this challenging and ambitious novel succeeds.