Extra. An island can be a hell or a paradise. The island is both reality and its own metaphor, writes Judith Shalansky in «Atlas of Distant Islands». I often feel free when I come to a small island, away from much that otherwise bothers me in the world. The island is a world in miniature, something that one can easily master, because geography is clearly delimited, as are the number of stories and the gallery of people one has dealings with. Life seems simple, a feeling of overview and calm fills the body. –

But sometimes the island can become a prison. Because it is easy to create illusions on an island. That everything will be fine, that one is protected from chaos and unrest. Perhaps one starts to miss the people and everything else one fled from, before one knows it. The feeling of loneliness and isolation spreads over the entire island, with water on all sides. One becomes a prisoner on a deserted island and longs to return to the mainland. –

Or perhaps one longs for an even smaller island where nothing can disturb, which is small enough to be filled with one’s own personality. –

But either the personality is too small, or the island is always too big. And then one returns to the mainland. Because who wants to live on a bare little islet?