In the non-fiction book “Syv meninger med lifet”, professor of social anthropology Thomas Hylland Eriksen gives seven different perspectives on what can give life meaning. He uses his professional background, his own life experience, as well as the thoughts of a wide range of colleagues, writers, musicians and others. This is truly a postmodern book in its mix of the high and the low and in its relativistic search, not for “Meaning” with a capital “M”, but more “meanings” with life. As he writes in the foreword: The big five If Hylland Eriksen had taken a personality test, I think he would have scored highly on the personality trait “openness to the world”. Because this book has a large supply of ideas. The ideal is the “master of associative thinking”, Michel de Montaigne. The professor himself calls it “maniacally digressive”. This is, as is often the case in Hylland Eriksen’s writing, both a strength and a weakness. The first chapter on relationships is sewn together with a fine red thread. Here are exciting tidbits about everything from the view of death in New Guinea (you’re not dead when you stop breathing, but only after all debts are settled) to how the farmers in the Andes greet each other – not with a “Do you good?”, but with a “Have you eaten today?”. Hedonist with self-discipline The chapter on scarcity is my favorite. Hylland Eriksen writes well about the value of longing and about how the society of abundance creates distinctive existential challenges. It’s easy to get carried away when Hylland Eriksen talks about interrail trips as a young man. I can taste the Pepsi in my mouth when he describes the first sip after a long, waterless train ride to Madrid. I feel the tingle of ecstasy when he buys his first Walkman and wanders the streets of Lisbon listening to Led Zeppelin and smoking a dark Portuguese cigarette. As the reader may understand, Hylland Eriksen never becomes a mystic in his reflections. The book expresses respect and understanding for religious views, but spiritual perspectives on fasting and other forms of abstinence are not explored here. We meet a non-believing enjoyer of life, albeit with moderation as a guiding principle. Several limitations Throughout the book, I find myself wishing that Hylland Eriksen had, to a greater extent, allowed scarcity to be a leading principle for the book’s form. The 200 or so pages are too crammed with whimsy for my taste. Not only is there something exhausting about the flow of continuously new ideas, but the chapters “Dreams”, “Slow Time” and “The Moment” in the middle of the book appear less rigorous and well thought out. Several times in the chapter “Balance art” I stop and ask myself, what is this really about? The book does not become directly uninteresting, but the rambling form becomes an obstacle to immersion. Considering the theme, the book is strikingly non-existential, in the sense that you feel that something is at stake. The phenomenon of suffering as a reality in human life is, for example, almost absent, except when Hylland Eriksen writes about the climate crisis – which he admittedly does quite a bit. Summer is a condition The book comes out early this fall, but I wonder if the publisher has missed the publication date. Because in all its lightness, this is a summer book, more than an autumn book. In the fine final chapter “Letting go”, Hylland Eriksen writes about what the concept of “a good death” can mean, both for an individual and for civilization as a whole. It is wistful reading, but here, too, it is the optimistic, conciliatory tone that leads the way. But of course, why not? As I said, there are many things to enjoy here. And that is perhaps also part of Hylland Eriksen’s message to the reader about life itself: Quite often it is eel-ridden! news reviews Title: “Syv meninger med lieft” Author: Thomas Hylland Eriksen Genre: Nonfiction Publisher: Kagge Number of pages: 191 Date: August 2022 Hi! I am a freelancer and review books for news. If you are wondering which books I recommend you read, you can see my reviews of “Fiskehuset” by Stein Torleif Bjella, “Kveldens ubheh” by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and “Gutteboka” by Nina Brochmann and Ellen Støkken Dahl.
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“Seven meanings with life” by Thomas Hylland Eriksen – Reviews and recommendations
