Author Ole Robert Sunde lost his wife to cancer several years ago. In the two novels “Penelope is sick” (2017) and “I feel unwell” (2019), he circles around the loss. Now the third volume is here. We live in a time when people no longer die, they “fall asleep” or “go away”. Death is embellished, but the authors write about him as never before, and it does not win little. Sunde enters the rich genre of mourning in his own way. Then I think not only of his peculiar prose, but also of the fact that he challenges the basic structure of the narratives of death that deal with grief. Why write about grief and death, actually? Most grief writers strive for clarification, they try through words to give grief shape and life a new meaning. In the Norwegian context, the thousand-year-old poem “Zone loss” in “Soga om Egil Skallagrimsson” is a condensed and beautiful example of this online. The grieving widower in Ole Robert Sunde’s novels will not get over it. On the contrary, he wants to live in grief, live in it. The daughter was provoked and is quoted as saying that the father could have thought a little more about those in the family who, after all, are alive. An interesting topic, which should be allowed to lie. We have to get into the text. The mourning trilogy An aging poet, a widower in his fifth year, wanders around the city of Oslo. He senses, associates and remembers his wife, the much-loved one. For those who have read the first two volumes of this trilogy, this sounds familiar. Let me start with the differences: In “Penelope is Sick”, he writes himself into the Odyssey, an epic about a long journey. In “I feel unwell”, his wife is dead, and he searches for her in a realm of the dead similar to the Tibetan “Bardo”. Here, George Saunders’ novel “Lincoln in Bardo” is a central source of inspiration: Like Saunders, Sunde creates a heavenly life in the gap between life and death. I mention this because there are interesting tensions between the widower in Oslo and the various texts that are in play. Without Grace In the last book, “Slow Marble”, other texts play a minor role. He goes more straight to the point, and brings out memories from a long cohabitation. It never gets too intimate, but sometimes too internal. Like when one learns that they have had a conversation about art and literature going on for over forty years, without us being incorporated into it. “Slow marble” is salvaged by Sunde’s form: In the walks through the city, he can attach himself to an insect, a patch of grass or a pair of red shoes. Anything, really, can make your mind spin: What is this, where does it come from? This is classic Sunde, but here the thoughts do not get to wander far before she enters the loop. All tissues of thought are mercilessly dragged back to the void after her. A small bite in the trouser leg, or a draft over the neck, makes him believe that she is seeking contact. Ends with question marks The grief trilogy tells about, and shows, a great love and a widower who both wants and does not want to move on. It’s gripping. Nevertheless, purely literary, the mourning trilogy shows a falling curve. Series have a relentless dynamic, and “Slow Marble” is characterized by repetition, despite the fact that there are also high-quality episodes in this third novel. The novel ends with a desperate question. It is a telling conclusion. Sorrow has no end. The text of sorrow ends without reconciliation. The reader – this reader – feels that three books were enough. news reviewer Photo: Gyldendal Title: «Slow marble» Author: Ole Robert Sunde Genre: Roman Publisher: Gyldendal Number of pages: 138 Date: 17 June 2022
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“Slow marble” by Ole Robert Sunde – Reviews and recommendations
