Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

[Stewart]

The nominations for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009 have been announced, comprising two entries of poetry or prose per area. These are:


DENMARK

Helle Helle, Ned til hundene,
Novel, Samleren, 2008

Ursula Andkj?r Olsen, Havet er en scene,
Poetry, Gyldendal, 2008

FINLAND

Jari J?rvel?, Romeo ja Julia (Romeo and Juliet)
Novel, Tammi, 2007
(Swedish translation, M?rten West?)

Robert ?sbacka, Orgelbyggaren
Novel, Schildts, 2008

ICELAND

Au?ur A. ?lafsd?ttir, Afleggjarinn (Stiklingen)
Novel, B?ka?tg?fan Salka, 2007
(Danish translation, Erik Skyum-Nielsen)

Sigurbj?rg ?rastard?ttir, Blysfarir (Fackelt?g)
Poetry, JPV ?tg?fa, 2007
(Swedish translation, John Swedenmark)

NORWAY

Per Petterson, Jeg forbanner tidens elv
Novel, Forlaget Oktober, 2008

?yvind Rimbereid, Herbarium
Poetry, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 2008


SWEDEN

Andrzej Tich?, F?lt,
Novel, Albert Bonniers F?rlag, 2008

Johan J?nson, Efter arbetsschema
Poetry Collection, Albert Bonniers F?rlag, 2008


FAROE ISLANDS

T?roddur Poulsen, Rot (R?ta)
Poetry collection, Mentunargrunnur Studentafelagsins, 2007
(Swedish translation, Anna Mattsson)

GREENLAND

M?gss?nguaq Qujaukitsoq, Sisamanik teqeqqulik
Poetry collection, Forlaget Atuagkat, 2007


THE SAAMI LANGUAGE AREA
(No nominations submitted)

[Bjorn]

Per Petterson won it.

Suppose I'm going to have to read him one of these days.

[Bjorn]

And for the few Scandinavian speakers on the board, here's an interesting article by Swedish critic Jonas Thente about the state of Nordic literature, if there is such a thing, including some talk about the nominees.

There is no Nordic literature, and maybe there never has been.

Why is it all Danes have to think that all Norwegians are Swedes, and at the same time speak Swedish so badly? There's three goddamn countries in Scandinavia, aren't there?

[Flower]

Per Petterson won it.

Suppose I'm going to have to read him one of these days.

I think Per Petterson deserved the prize and I shall look forward to reading his latest novel!

[Eric]

Good luck, Per Petterson! Have any of you read the book? What's the book ("Jeg forbanner tidens elv" - i.e. "I Curse the River of Time") about? Is this the same novel as "Out Stealing Horses", or a more recent one? When titles get changed in translation, it can be hard to follow what is what.

[Flower]

Good luck, Per Petterson! Have any of you read the book? What's the book ("Jeg forbanner tidens elv" - i.e. "I Curse the River of Time&quot about? Is this the same novel as "Out Stealing Horses", or a more recent one? When titles get changed in translation, it can be hard to follow what is what.

The new novel "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" has just been published over here like a week ago! So its not the same as "Out stealing horses"

If you read danish, here is a link about the prize and the book:
http://politiken.dk/sog/ (dunno why the link does not show the articles, but just write his name in the search spot, then 20 articles should show up)

[hdw]

Bj?rn's post of 3rd April about "the state of Nordic literature" gives a link to the book pages of the Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter", and I was just about to head to the article in question when my eye was caught by a sub-heading at the side about Hjalmar S?derberg's "Doktor Glas" and Kerstin Ekman. Ekman is one of Sweden's leading novelists, best known to the English-speaking world for "Blackwater", a brooding thriller set in the north of Sweden. So what's all this about?

Well, Ekman is bringing out a new novel this autumn - and I've translated a brief pr?cis of her interview with DN's Sarah Magnusson -

"In Mordets praktik(The Practice of Murder) she joins those authors who have been fascinated and inspired by Hjalmar S?derberg's fictional character Doktor Glas.

- The novel is partly about when S?derberg conceived the idea for Doktor Glas and about how he meets a doctor who gives him the idea for the plot, says Kerstin Ekman.

You have previously written thrillers and the novel's title suggests that genre - is this a thriller-type novel?

- No, there is no unsolved mystery, but it is a suspenseful novel, inspired by a murder."

I saw Ekman at a Scandinavian Studies conference some years ago at the University of Surrey in Guildford - a pretty, frail-looking woman whose appearance belies her fascination with the dark side of life. I find her books a bit too bleak for my taste, but I'll be interested to see what she does with the Doktor Glas story.

Harry

[leif e]

The new novel "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" has just been published over here like a week ago! So its not the same as "Out stealing horses"

If you read danish, here is a link about the prize and the book:
Politiken.dk - det levende net (dunno why the link does not show the articles, but just write his name in the search spot, then 20 articles should show up)

The book Petterson got this year?s prize for, "Jeg forbanner tidens elv", is his most recent and represents a return to his character Arvid, used several times earlier in novels written in close connection to Petterson?s own life - though not autobiographical in any real sense.

"Out stealing horses" was more of an exception than it was typical of Petterson?s writing - at least thematically. "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" (a qoute from a Mao Tse-Tung poem) is an excellent book, Petterson?s prose at it?s haunting and insisting best. The year is 1989, Arvid?s mother has gotten a diagnosis of cancer and leaves for Denmark (her home country) and the family?s summer house to be alone. Arvid experiences his own crisis in the oncoming divorce from his wife and the relation?s fundament in the radical 70s and Arvid?s choice of leaving an intellectual course for his life and instead taking manual work at a book printer?s.

Petterson is one of the writers from Norway who is really worth your while!

leif e

[leif e]

By the way; of the other nominees I have had the chance to read, I am absolutely infatuated with Helle Helle?s novel Ned til hundene (Denmark). Her quiet short-clipped and almost secretive prose continues to impress and, most of all; move me.
leif e

[Mirabell]

The book Petterson got this year?s prize for, "Jeg forbanner tidens elv", is his most recent and represents a return to his character Arvid, used several times earlier in novels written in close connection to Petterson?s own life - though not autobiographical in any real sense.

"Out stealing horses" was more of an exception than it was typical of Petterson?s writing - at least thematically. "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" (a qoute from a Mao Tse-Tung poem) is an excellent book, Petterson?s prose at it?s haunting and insisting best. The year is 1989, Arvid?s mother has gotten a diagnosis of cancer and leaves for Denmark (her home country) and the family?s summer house to be alone. Arvid experiences his own crisis in the oncoming divorce from his wife and the relation?s fundament in the radical 70s and Arvid?s choice of leaving an intellectual course for his life and instead taking manual work at a book printer?s.

Petterson is one of the writers from Norway who is really worth your while!

leif e

Are Petterson's Arvid books comparable to Updike's Rabbit books?

[leif e]

I hope someone else can answer that one - Updike has been on my have-to-read list for years, but so far ...

Petterson is however clearly inspired by an American realistic style and/or tradition of writing - also in the books about Arvid. John Fante is one guy Petterson himself will refer to. At the same time his style very low key, careful in the use of heavy words, often relying on the unsaid. (In that sense - a relation to the above mentioned Helle Helle).
leif e

[Bjorn]

I agree with Leif's praise of Helle Helle, though I haven't read Ned til hundene yet; I read her R?dby-Puttgarden a few years ago and found it excellent. Terse, effective prose and just enough universal themes woven in to revitalise the tired old Scandinavian social realism.

[Eric]

Ned til hundene has just appeared in Dutch translation. How many of Helle Helle's books have appeared in English translation? If there aren't any, the discussion will be restricted to that little coterie that read Scandinavian languages. The Danish Literary Magazine has a synopsis here:

Over to the dogs