The Gospel of the Eels

'This is one of those special books . . . Even if it were only a book about eels, it would be wonderful.' - Sunday Times 'I never thought I would see myself in an eel, until I read Svensson’s beautiful book, in which he anthropomorphizes eels and shows how mysterious they are, and how little we know about them. It’s a beautiful book that makes you realize that the eel is our cousin — we are the eel, and the eel is us.' - Michaela Coel ’I can’t recall us ever talking about anything other than eels and how to best catch them, down there by the stream. Actually, I can’t remember us speaking at all. Maybe because we never did.’ The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is one of the strangest creatures nature ever created. Remarkably little is known about the eel, even today. What we do know is that it’s born as a tiny willow-leaf shaped larva in the Sargasso Sea, travels on the ocean currents toward the coasts of Europe – a journey of about four thousand miles that takes at least two years. Upon arrival, it transforms itself into a glass eel and then into a yellow eel before it wanders up into fresh water. It lives a solitary life, hiding from both light and science, for ten, twenty, fifty years, before migrating back to the sea in the autumn, morphing into a silver eel and swimming all the way back to the Sargasso Sea, where it breeds and dies. And yet . . . There is still so much we don’t know about eels. No human has ever seen eels reproduce; no one can give a complete account of the eel’s metamorphoses or say why they are born and die in the Sargasso Sea; no human has even seen a mature eel in the Sargasso Sea. Ever. And now the eel is disappearing, and we don’t know exactly why. What we do know is that eels and their mysterious lives captivate us. This is the basis for The Gospel of the Eels , Patrik Svensson’s quite unique natural science memoir; his ongoing fascination with this secretive fish, but also the equally perplexing and often murky relationship he shared with his father, whose only passion in life was fishing for this obscure creature. Through the exploration of eels in literature (Günter Grass and Graham Swift feature, amongst others) and the history of science (we learn about Aristotle’s and Sigmund Freud’s complicated relationships with eels) as well as modern marine biology (Rachel Carson and others) we get to know this peculiar animal. In this exploration, we also learn about the human condition, life and death, through natural science and nature writing at its very best. As Patrik Svensson concludes: 'by writing about eels, I have in some ways found my way home again.'

'This is one of those special books . . . Even if it were only a book about eels, it would be wonderful.' - Sunday Times 'I never thought I would see myself in an eel, until I read Svensson’s beautiful book, in which he anthropomorphizes eels and shows how mysterious they are, and how little we know about them. It’s a beautiful book that makes you realize that the eel is our cousin — we are the eel, and the eel is us.' - Michaela Coel ’I can’t recall us ever talking about anything other than eels and how to best catch them, down there by the stream. Actually, I can’t remember us speaking at all. Maybe because we never did.’ The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is one of the strangest creatures nature ever created. Remarkably little is known about the eel, even today. What we do know is that it’s born as a tiny willow-leaf shaped larva in the Sargasso Sea, travels on the ocean currents toward the coasts of Europe – a journey of about four thousand miles that takes at least two years. Upon arrival, it transforms itself into a glass eel and then into a yellow eel before it wanders up into fresh water. It lives a solitary life, hiding from both light and science, for ten, twenty, fifty years, before migrating back to the sea in the autumn, morphing into a silver eel and swimming all the way back to the Sargasso Sea, where it breeds and dies. And yet . . . There is still so much we don’t know about eels. No human has ever seen eels reproduce; no one can give a complete account of the eel’s metamorphoses or say why they are born and die in the Sargasso Sea; no human has even seen a mature eel in the Sargasso Sea. Ever. And now the eel is disappearing, and we don’t know exactly why. What we do know is that eels and their mysterious lives captivate us. This is the basis for The Gospel of the Eels , Patrik Svensson’s quite unique natural science memoir; his ongoing fascination with this secretive fish, but also the equally perplexing and often murky relationship he shared with his father, whose only passion in life was fishing for this obscure creature. Through the exploration of eels in literature (Günter Grass and Graham Swift feature, amongst others) and the history of science (we learn about Aristotle’s and Sigmund Freud’s complicated relationships with eels) as well as modern marine biology (Rachel Carson and others) we get to know this peculiar animal. In this exploration, we also learn about the human condition, life and death, through natural science and nature writing at its very best. As Patrik Svensson concludes: 'by writing about eels, I have in some ways found my way home again.'

"The Gospel of Eels" er svenske Patrik Svenssons smukke og fascinerende selvbiografiske naturmemoirer om havets mest enigmatiske fisk - ålen - og den rolle ål har spillet i hans liv. Den europæiske ål, der hedder anguilla anguilla, er et af de særeste naturskabninger i verden. Selv nu, er der stadig meget lidt vi ved om ålen. Vi ved, at ålens larver fødes i Sargassohavet, at de rejser med strømmen i to års tid, indtil de når Europas kyster, at den her bliver til en glasål og senere hen en gulål, hvorefter den lever et par årtier i ferskvand. Dernæst vender ålen tilbage til havet, forvandler sig til en blankål og svømmer så tilbage til Sargassohavet for at yngle, gyde og dø. Men der er stadig meget vi ikke ved. Og det er det, der gør dem så mystiske og dragende. I "The Gospel of the Eels" fortæller Patrik Svensson om sin evige fascination af ålen. Dette er ikke mindst på grund af, at fiskens hemmelighedsfuldhed afspejler det kryptiske forhold Svensson havde til sin far - en mand, hvis eneste glæde i livet var ålfangst.

"The Gospel of Eels" er svenske Patrik Svenssons smukke og fascinerende selvbiografiske naturmemoirer om havets mest enigmatiske fisk - ålen - og den rolle ål har spillet i hans liv. Den europæiske ål, der hedder anguilla anguilla, er et af de særeste naturskabninger i verden. Selv nu, er der stadig meget lidt vi ved om ålen. Vi ved, at ålens larver fødes i Sargassohavet, at de rejser med strømmen i to års tid, indtil de når Europas kyster, at den her bliver til en glasål og senere hen en gulål, hvorefter den lever et par årtier i ferskvand. Dernæst vender ålen tilbage til havet, forvandler sig til en blankål og svømmer så tilbage til Sargassohavet for at yngle, gyde og dø. Men der er stadig meget vi ikke ved. Og det er det, der gør dem så mystiske og dragende. I "The Gospel of the Eels" fortæller Patrik Svensson om sin evige fascination af ålen. Dette er ikke mindst på grund af, at fiskens hemmelighedsfuldhed afspejler det kryptiske forhold Svensson havde til sin far - en mand, hvis eneste glæde i livet var ålfangst.