ABSTRACT
Olsson wishes to show how the world has been made and remade in the ever-shifting image of what it means to be Human in continuous struggle and negotiation with the Gods and the Earth. The world is not so much the home of Manor the homeland of Manas it is the refuge of Manor, as we shall see, His Prison House. The pinning down of the Humans beyond enemy lines is most clearly articulated in the final installment of Abysmal, in an essay entitled Mappa Mundi Universalis. For Olsson, then, the world is not out there awaiting Human discovery and meaningful expression, but in here. Five aspects of the articulation of sense need to be emphasized. We must appreciate that Abysmal is entirely devoted to 'life in the Saussurean Bar' the Bar in which 'we learn what it is to be human'. Abysmal is Olsson's attempt to map and narrate this singularity as it perpetually vanishes.
