On Tuesday 1 November, we will find out what is the best book in the Nordics online now, at least according to the cross-Nordic committee that will award the prize. While the debates in Helsinki, at the 74th session of the Nordic Council, will be about the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis, one of the evenings will be dedicated to music, film, children’s books, the climate project and not least: adult books. All the nominees for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2022 Norway Sweden “Löpa varg” by Kerstin Ekman. Novel. (Read the review) “The day of sorrow” by Jesper Larsson. Novel. Denmark “Om udregning af rumfang (I, II og III)” by Solvej Balle. Novel. “Adam in Paradise” by Rakel Haslund-Gjerrild. Novel. Finland “Eunukki” by Kristina Carlson. Novel. “Röda rummet” by Kaj Korkea-aho. Novel. Faroe Islands “Sólgarðurin” by Beinir Bergsson. Poem. Greenland “Arkhticós Dolorôs” by Jessie Kleemann. Poem. Iceland “Truflunin” by Steinar Bragi. Novel. “Aprílsólarkuldi” by Elísabet Jökulsdóttir. Novel. The Sami language area “Beaivváš mánát” by Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari. Poem. Åland “Hem” by Karin Erlandsson. Novel. Get to know the neighbors The total of 14 books that have been nominated for the Nordic Council’s literature prize give a good picture of what is happening. Not least because it seems that the juries are no longer so preoccupied with the fact that the books should represent their country and preferably have action added to typical environments or be placed in the country’s history. This gives us a broader picture of the literature that is written in the country, more than of the country itself. And although the national committees are unlikely to confer with each other before they nominate for the Nordic Council’s literature prize, it turns out again and again that many books in each year deal with the same questions. Gender and sex The most striking thing this year is actually how many people write about sex: forbidden sex, S&M sex with accompanying death, passionately poetic gay sex. Here are four of them and my assessments: S&M in Finnish – a favorite “Röda rummet” is a clear favourite. Finnish Kaj Korkea-aho has written a somewhat incredible novel. Yes, he has rapped the title from August Strindberg, but the story is original: A poor author posts an advertisement in which he promises to write a novel about whoever will give him a place to bu. It becomes the way into an environment where his boundaries are strongly challenged by sadomasochism for the more advanced. That the author is also a comedian is strongly reflected in the novel. But not online in this section, where the host tries to explain to the poor author about the joy of total subordination. For example, in a red bedroom.« – You have given up control, said Aimo, – and are completely in the hands of your ruler. There is no will anymore, no ambivalence or fear or desire. You lose track of time. You are only an object and completely one with that nature.” Art of life at the imperial court “Eunuch” by Finnish Kristina Carlson, a melancholy study of a person who got a completely different life than what nature had intended. “I am seventy years old, maybe a little younger, maybe a little older. I don’t know exactly how old I am. I was nine years old when I was cut and stayed in the court.” The eunuch Wang Wei looks back on a long life at the court of the Chinese emperor. A thoroughly sympathetic work, which is unlikely to win the prize. Cultivation of flowers and eroticism The prize probably won’t go to “Solhaven” by Beinir Bergsson, “the very first explicitly queer poetry collection in the Faroe Islands”, according to the jury. Here, depictions of lush plant life in the grandparents’ garden transition seamlessly into steaming lasciviousness: “Drill your fingers into my back when I push you up against the wall/hold my wrist and watch the pulse beat in my neck while you lie on your back” The fluid transitions between the “sugar flowers” in the old garden and steamy eroticism where the bed gradually becomes like a garden or a microcosm, are beautiful things. “Solhaven” is a promising start to the queer poetry genre in the Faroe Islands. Forbidden drives in the studio “Adam in paradise” depicts homosexual love in a Copenhagen artist milieu in the early 20th century. Strictly forbidden, but the artist Kristian Zartmann can let young men undress in the studio when he has to measure Adam in paradise, for example. Author Rakel Haslund-Gjerrild has a wide spectrum that ranges from the painful via the secret to the burlesque. Like at the carnival, the party for everyone who has something to hide: “Who are you, he asks and measures me, looking at the stains on my dress. Picks up a blunt papier-mâché, which had hidden itself in my moustache, with an almost affectionate movement.-I was a hen, but my mask went off, I say…»Zartmann was not a success at the carnival. But the book if he wants to reach high up, maybe to the top? What’s the point of messing with the timeline? Another trend is time travel. Not just one, but two books this year deal with the fact that time passes differently for different people or in different zones. This is a move ideally found in science fiction and related areas. I have read these two books, diverging with a strong feeling of missing the point: Speculative prose Danish Solvej Balle’s “Om udregning af romfang” will contain seven volumes, and the first three have thus been published and nominated. They are also about to be translated into Norwegian by Trude Marstein. It is hardly a coincidence, Marstein has for years translated the Danish author Helle Helle into Norwegian, and the three clearly have one thing in common: a beautiful prose that never explains to a lot, an eye for telling details and a sharp but tolerant look at human folly. But this time Balle pulled away from the sober group and wrote what she calls “speculative prose”. The main character Tara Selter is caught in the date 18 November. The interaction with the rest of the world is extremely complicated and is gradually increasing. “I have counted the days. It’s my Eighteenth November #122. I’ve come a long way from the seventeenth, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get the nineteenth. But the eighteenth comes again and again.”She is first completely stationary in the guest room of her own house, in volume two she goes on a journey and in volume three she meets Henry Dahle, who is in the same way as her. The language is beautiful, Tara is a person who is really trying to figure it out, the Danish criticism is very positive, but I struggle to understand what is the point of this approach. “Le Bureau” atmosphere I struggle with the same during the reading of “The Disturbance” by the Icelander Steinar Bragi. Here, an entire district in Reykjavik has entered a zone where time runs slower. Professionals of various kinds manage to get through the veil around the city and try to find out what is happening. Everyone sneaks up on each other and it becomes a kind of “Le Bureau” atmosphere. Again: This is an intricate and impressive work, but I don’t understand the point. The conclusion is again that I fall short as a critic due to a lack of genre expertise. Arctic and psychosis Perhaps the winner is hidden in stories about psychosis, the Arctic and magical stones? The jury has surprised before: Jessie Kleemann: “Arkhticós Dolôros” Greenland took home the award for the first time last year, with the novel “Butterfly Valley”. Greenland usually nominates a collection of poems in which nature stands strong, and that has also happened this year. Kleemann’s is experimental in form. She takes material from history and mythology, broadens her perspective, and often switches to English. The title plays on the Arctic melting and laughing. Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari: “Beaivvás Mánát/Living among reptiles” The versatile Sami artist Mari does not write melancholy poems about the loss of land and culture. She writes furious, accusing, critical and clear poems about it. More than half the book is only in Sami. The illustrations are by the author. Elisabeth Jökulsdottir: “Aprilsolskinskulde” This autobiographical novel from Iceland is a time travel to Reykjavik from the 1970s onwards. The young woman is subsequently diagnosed with bipolar. The depiction of a psychosis from the inside towards the end of the novel is intense reading. Jesper Larsson: “The day of sorrow” The Swedish author Jesper Larsson depicts the relationship between a single father and his teenage daughter, with whom he gradually loses contact with. The daughter is ashamed that he is a miscreant and has black streaks under his fingernails, which none of the other fathers in the class have. One day she is gone. Karin Erlandsson: “Home” In the novel from Åland, the island itself plays a major role. We meet people who have lived on the island for thousands of years, each era getting its own, novel-like chapter. What is also common to all is that they find a very special stone with a ring gem on it, which gives meaning in different ways in the different stories. Ekman can win again A big favorite is “Løpe ulv” by the now 89-year-old Kerstin Ekman, who, if she wins the award, will be the oldest award winner ever – and the first to receive the award twice. If the prize goes to Ekman, it is not because of these potential records, but because of the peculiar story of the hunter who one day sees a wolf in its rightful element. The hunter owns the forest, but the wolf lives there. Life will never be the same afterwards for any of them. There may well be a Norwegian winner The Norwegian jury has nominated “Girl, 1983” by Linn Ullmann and “Dette er G” by Inghill Johansen. “Girl, 1983” is about searching backwards to a “shit story” and trying to figure out what happened when the girl (16) ended up in bed with a grown man. And yes, this is probably a novel about sex and all that. While “Dette er G” is, on the other hand, an intriguing little novel about a collective that lives in the valley G, and about a person who lives there but has a moving project she does not take lightly. Time passes, houses fall into disrepair, people die and someone has to move. Johansen describes it laconically, without going overboard with feelings. And the winner? Many can win the award, I bet on Finnish sadomasochism in “Röda rummet”, or Swedish wolf history in “Løpe ulv”. We will get the answer on Tuesday evening at 19:00. SURPRISING: The jury has surprised before – last year Niviaq Korneliussen from Greenland walked away with the prize, which is the “Northern Lights” statuette and 300,000 Danish kroner. Photo: Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix / NTB Hi! I am chief critic of fiction at news. Feel free to read my book reviews of “The Surgeon” by Ida Hegazi Høyer, “Løpe ulv” by Kerstin Ekman or “Matrix” by Lauren Groff.
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These books are competing for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize – Reviews and recommendations
