Welcome to Spanish Lit Month

Well it’s here July  tomorrow and I’m excited to see what books every one has chosen but if your still struggling for a book to read for Spanish language lit month ,I ve a few tips here to help my co host richard has done two posts of book lists .the first has 200 books that have been picked on various lists  the second had a further list of 100 plus books from classic to the modern age from spain and latin america .

Right another great port of call is the complete review Michael the guy behind complete review has many more reviews of spanish fiction here  and Latin american fiction here .Mostly modern but it has best selection of Latin american fiction I ve seen .

The site for new Spanish books available to be translated is a great site to see what is happening in Spanish .Nick Caistor and Stefan Tobler advise on here two  people I know are trustworthy .

Then I ll give you five to read from my blog

1.Don Quixote –

US EDITION DON QUIXOTE

This is the head water of all modern european fiction we may think use in the english speaking world got the ball rolling on the novel no its  this book has it all ,meta fiction ,playful story lines ,History and oh the mad don and his faithful friend .

2 Three trapped tiger G Cabrera Infante –

The cuban Ulysses the call it but actually it is very different it has a very cuban feel you can feel a jazz beat as your read about a day in Havana just before the revolution .A lost classic this one .

3 I the supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos

Another classic of latin american fiction ,the story of a 19th century dictator in latin america echos of the present in the past image ,controlling the media and writing your own history still go on in the present day

4 Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras

One of my favourite books of recent years ,the dirty war seen through a young boys eyes .It is touching and entertaining  and with a believable child narrator .

5 Exiled from almost everywhere by Juan Goytisolo

He is the wonderful master of spanish fiction I ve read a few but this only one since I ve blog a wonderfully wacky tale that maybe needs a wider audience  . As does Juan he may win the Nobel one day soon and if you’ve not read him you’ll kick your self .

Oh and needless to say Borges is a must read anything by him is going make your reading life a little brighter .

Amsterdam stories by Nescio

Amsterdam stories by Nescio

Dutch fiction

Translated by Damon Searls (he also select the stories in the collection)

Nescio was the pen name of J H F Gronloh ,he was a succesful Dutch businessman a director of the Holland – Bombay trading company ,he wrote in his free time and used the pseudonym  Nescio is a Latin phrase meaning I don’t know he published very little,as he want to keep his writing secret . But is so highly regarded in Holland that his collective works were named in the Nrc’s best dutch novels top ten at number 8 and was the only collection that was in top ten all the others were novels .I first heard of him maybe twenty years ago in a dutch bar when I was out visiting the Dutch city Nimwegen which was near where I lived in Germany for a time .I had completely forgotten about him til I read Trevor’s post at Mooske and Gripe  I knew it had finally hit us in English .So  I picked a copy up for Iris on books Dutch Lit month as it seemed a great choice and is my first venture into pre ww2 dutch fiction .

So the collection is made up of 9 pieces of Necio’s writings , his three best regard pieces are in the collection .The freeloader a story of a Koekebakker the narrator ,the mean of this name in dutch is silly bungler and by the title you meet the other character in the story Japi he is a man who really want to do very little in his life to say this story is only 31 pages long you get a lot for your money it is rather like stones in the landslide ,where a life is compacted into a small space but without feeling like it has .Japi would be a slacker these days ,but like many of the original Gen x’s they turn into successful businessmen .After reading The freeloader I feel this is maybe the most autobiographical of the piece in the book as thou he was looking back on a point in time he lost at some point .The other two well-known stories in the collection  are Young titans is similar to The freeloader except a larger group of men they feel like same idea of a story but worked in two different way .The other really well-known story is Little poet a piece Nescio was inspired to write by a little girl he knew ,he then gave her the story to read but he said she didn’t get it ,this was the longest story in the book and could almost be counted as a Novella .The other piece later in the book have a feel of the war coming and being there .But I did get really struck by some lines in Insula dei (island of god in latin ) .That mention in it  Nimwegen a dutch city where I spent many a great weekend out (this is the German spelling as I lived in germany near it for 18 months I always use this spelling ).

Chateau to the gardens .Its like the view from westerbouwing but everything is bigger ,and instead of Nijmegen with its little hills you have start of the alps ,far away and hazy .And the Rhone in the landscape ,and lots of trees ,lots of pointed poplars ,fields in many different shades of grey ,and little house ,grand but as the same time flowery and charming ,now and then a train in the distance .reminiscent of Montferland sometime ,of the view from the hotel there ,the Cleve towers could be mountains opposite .

Loved this poetic passage  but also mentions where I lived in germany Kleve .

So Nescio was he worth the 20 year wait yes he was ,he fell into that band of writers I love from Maugham here in the uk of human bondage Philip is rather like some of the characters in these stories  ,Hamsun hunger the starving or struggling man a character that also appears in Paul Leppins Blaugast  and Walser (also published by NYRB ).The tales of wayward manhood ,growing up ,drink and bohemian style sometimes failing sometimes going the other way and becoming a success ,He is a master of what may be called  neo realism  taking what the likes of Balzac and the French in the late 19th century did to the next level .He also  evokes an Amsterdam that is the city of the foot and wandering round it ,those dark nooks that may know be something else but then were cafes dens of chat and thoughts and dreams .Brel wrote a song about Amsterdam you feel this is the city he was describing expanded out  the rough character are a back drop in these stories but this is a city that has more to it than we know .

Have you read this book ?

Olympic torch in chesterfield

Our day with the Olympic torch in Chesterfield 29th June 2012

Well I taking a post away from books today ,as it was a special day in Chesterfield today the Olympic torch made its way through our town  and local area .Amanda my darling wife  really wanted to see it  go past .So I got the day off work and we then poured over the route through chesterfield and decide to stand near our town hall be a good idea as it is on a nice straight road  and big pavements so we wouldn’t get squashed .

We got there early picked our spot and then waited a hour but it was great fun  as there was a brass band on the town hall balcony and the local school kids where there and kept spirits up as they were cheering and flag waving for the hour plus  wait .As we waited in the crowd we spoke to the people next to us that had come from Derby as their son was going to be a torch holder and the spot we had chosen to stand at was his point to run with the flame so we knew we chosen the best spot .But then disaster struck twenty minutes to go the heavens opened I d only my summer jacket on so dear bless her Amanda ran to the nearest shop with umbrellas primark and came back just as if just for the torch the rain eased off and wonderful blue sky appeared  as if just in time for the torch to come past .But we have a nice union jack umbrella for next time it rains .

And then the torch-bearer bus went by and George the torch bearer that was going to change his torch by us was there ,looking wonderful cool in his 2012 get up and holding very carefully his torch .All of us around just cheered and stared in wonder at it .

So we then saw the sponsors lorries go past and unfortunately my dear Amanda missed out on the freebies they were handing out ,but at least we’d got a great place to see the flame go past .So the as we followed tweets from dear Rob of robaroundbooks as he followed the live feed of the Olympic flame relay . We the heard the roar of the crowd as the torch got nearer .Then it was there for us to see .

So In a little over three weeks when it appears on the TV in the opening ceremony I can say to Amanda as we watch it we saw that .I was pleased we choose to watch it ok we got a bit wet but end up feeling part of something bigger and now I m looking forward to the Olympics even more .

Have you seen the flame ?

Raid and the Blackest sheep by Harri Nykanen

Finnish crime fiction

Translator – Peter Ylitalo Leppa

When I was contact by Diane a Us based pr about this publisher I was very happy I ve read a number of the books you’d call nordic noir .But among them had never read any from Finland and with the other Finnish novels I d read I was sure the crime fiction from there would be very different so I had two from Ice cold crime arrive this the first I read is by Harri Nykanen ,he used work as a crime reporter in Helsinki ,he describe his books as viewing the underworld through the eyes and rules of the criminals .This is the fourth book in the raid series after the first three were written there was a very succesful tv series made in Finland that at the height of the show it was watched by twenty percent of the population .I found a trailer but its in finnish but from watching it you get the feel of the series .

So to the book Raid ,I don’t like joining books in the middle of series but it wasn’t til I started to write-up this review I found out it was the fourth book in the series .So it stood up well by itself ,Raid is a hitman but he is a quiet character in the book ,I was remind a bit of the saint by Leslie Charteris ,a bad guy but with a moral code as that is what Raid seems to have .The story is a road movie in a book .Raid has been hired by Nygren a large figure in the criminal underworld to drive him around the north of Finland as Nygren is facing a race against the clock to sort some untie threads in his life .We start at a church were we have to deal with a crooked preacher ,on the way Nygren meet friends and enemies as he tries to put right what he once did wrong (sorry paraphrased  that line just from quantum leap ) .There is a second storyline that is a Detective lieutenant Jansson this is a 50 year rotund balding with his marriages on the rocks ,he has had a run in or two over the years with Raid and wants to pin something on him this time  .So we see the two  storylines  the police and criminals getting close as Jansson follows Raids path via local police reports of people Nygren has dealt with in the past  .

Nygren was approaching sixty .His face was lean and furrowed with an inch long scar at the left corner of his mouth ,With his blond hair combed straight back to the nape of his neck,Nrygen looked almost boyish .The expensive watch on his wrist topped of his stylish attire .

Nygren as the book open sleeping in the back of the car with raid.

What I enjoyed about this book is the feel of it gritty ,a bit more masculine than other nordic crime books I ve read and also the way Nygren had flipped  the storyline round .So the main drive of the book is the viewpoint of the criminals as they head round north Finland sorting things out .Raid is a character I could read again and again ,I can see why he has become a real star in Finland he is a bad guy you like ,ok he kills people but only the  right people the truly  bad people ,he is a quiet guy but one that is loyal to whoever is paying him in this case Nygren as he need Raid to make sure he gets all he needs to get done in the race against time .I said he remind me of the saint I meant the saint is a character that walk line of morals  was he good or bad he helped people I also felt raid had the same air of mysery simon templar had .My one big qualm with the book is it cover I find rather non de script and   it does this wonderful book no real favours .So if you like to read a criminal viewpoint on nordic crime with a dose of action and drama this is the book for you .

Have you read any Finnish crime novels ?

Doctor I’m stuck in a world of English and US fiction can you help ?

I had this idea a couple of years ago for a book clinc and never did anything with it then Kim from reading matters mention a similar thing ,so I gone back to think about doing it more seriously this time ,its two years on and my knowledge base has expand on world literature in that time ,so I now feel I can do this probably .so like any doctor I ll be the translation doctor ,you come to me with a book you’ve loved in english and I ll go away and give you a prescription of a book in translation that may not be the same but will have similar themes so if you tell me what the book was about and maybe the themes in the book you liked and I ll put the time in and recommend something that touches the same themes or plot or if your very lucky both .

I ll give and example that isn’t really mine I must admit it is one that Meike from Peirene press frequently gives for reading the wonderful beside the sea and that is that is you loved the book room by Emma Donoghue ,you will see similar themes in this book .

Another from me would be the books of Roger Deakin ,his style is very similar to the German writers W G Sebald’s  book rings of Saturn I feel if you loved his  books you will get on with Sebald’s prose as they have a similar style .

So help get this start either leave a comment on a book you loved or e mail me and I try and help out otherwise to get ball rolling I just make up the first few books submitted .

Injury time by Beryl Bainbridge

Injury time Beryl Bainbridge

English fiction

I read this as part of Gaskella Beryl Bainbridge week .I had Beryl Bainbridge down in my list of big scary Women writers ,those you who follow the blog know I struggle sometimes with big female writers .So Beryl Bainbridge is a name I ve been aware of for twenty year since my early days of following the booker prize .She was shortlisted on a number of occasions but never actually won the prize but shortly after her death they ran a Bainbridge booker of the books she’d had shortlisted and the book master Georgie won (I may try that next ).She grew up liverpool and her books mainly psychological and set in the working classes .She published over twenty novels .I saw a documentary on her that bbc showed a couple of years ago that involved her family and meant to try her then  so must thank Annabella   for giving me the push to read one of her books at last .

Now to injury time ,which I may say is a book of its time firsted published in the seventies .We meet Edward a man married to Helen but having an an affair with Binny ,He felt bad that his mistress is unable to do the things a wife could do so the book opens with him asking someone he knows Old Simpson and his other half Muriel he is the sort chap that is able to keep a secret .Now to be truthful the opening of this book just didn’t grab me .I saw this as a typical bit of seventies social commentary the dinner party being the big thing of the seventies as families got more disposable income this came the dinner parties in fact my heart started sink , think oh no is this a different take on Abgails party social satire I loved Abigail’s  party and would find it hard to get anything to match it    for the humour .But as we moved further on the fact this party has to finish at half  ten as Edward need to be home is maybe the first bit that tells you something is going to happen at this party to maybe mean Edward is going to be found out ,so the clock ticks as they await the guests .Then they arrive  late than expected and the party gets under way .This is where the book really drew me in as the party is suddenly crashed by a group of bank robbers .As one can imagine this adds a new dynamic to Edward’s rush to finish at half ten  and also means he won’t be home so as the party descends into farce .Well that’s enough of that I let you read the book to find out the rest .

They began dinner at a quarter past nine. Edward wondered agitatedly how he could possibly manage to eat ,help with the washing up,and be out of the house by half past ten at the latest .It would seem fearfully abrupt .

Edward start to panic ,when they arrive late .

I think the title is an allusion to the football game where if things are tight the amount of injury time can make the world of difference I remember the United game in 1999 where they won the European cup in injury time so like that this is Edwards injury time . I was also  reminded after reading the book  of two things by this book the first is the Harold Pinter play The birthday party in which a party is gatecrashed by two men,though that play is very dark the context of a party being gatecrashed is there and fact it been out for twenty years and Bainbridge did a lot of theatre criticism  she probably saw this and maybe it was a slight influence on the idea of the story .The second is an episode of only fools and horse where Del and Rodney suffered an intruder whilst on holiday he turns out to be an escaped prisoner and much farce follows as they try to make him go .Well I did in the end like this book not love it ,it was enough to make me want to try her again and yet again shows the value of having a reading week devoted to one writer .

Translation Why ?

I ve read Tony’s post on translation ,He kindly mentions me but I will now admit something I wonder what difference I have made and why I was mentioned in such hallowed company . I ‘ve spent two year promoting translation and building this blog and to be truthful recently my heart has gone hence lack of post last two months ,I do wonder if I get the message across and my passion because it is a passion to me   .I have reviewed two hundred translations. but feel I ve not made even made a small dent on the readers that don’t even bother reading translation I m not even at base camp yet I need to get to the peak  .This is the point where I d think of a change of direction in the past  but no actually I step back as I struggled  with my own conviction on this journey .But now with Spanish language month on the horizon  .I face the blog and twitter world with renewed excitement  and vigour .so why translation I may ask the opposite why not translation .I ve been round the world been young and  old ,in the wars ,in prison  ,in dream worlds , ancient cities ,imagined cities solved crime in the heat ,cold ,now and then .All that due to translation so hear me I will continue the battle to place a translation in every readers hand .

Brother Mendel’s perfect horse by Frank Westerman

Brother Mendel’s perfect horse by Frank Westerman

Dutch non fiction

Translator – Sam Garrett

Frank Westerman is Dutch writer and former Journalist ,he grew up in Assen in a dutch reform church family ,he then went to university eventually ending up as a journalist ,where in the early nineties he end up in former Yugoslavia ,this inspired his first book since then he has written six books most of which have won prizes and been on shortlist in native Holland .He is now a full time writer .

So to this book Brother Mendel’s perfect horse or its original ditch title translated is Animal ,animal above but English title links Mendel’s work on peas the early study of genetics that also influenced the Horse’s breeding  .The book is a wonderful insight into the beautiful Lipizzaner horses  ,I loved the way he’d first meet the horse on the edge of the town he lived was a horse a Lipizzaner but it turns out it he finds the horse whole blood line .For those of you not in the know Lippizzanner’s are large perfect white horse that due to there bloodstock are able to be trained to perform wonderful trick and precision riding,but also have in breed genetic problems  .I was aware of the horse and knew roughly where they came from but had always wondered why it was called the Spanish riding school but was in Austria .I found  this book answered any other questions I had ,but the horse are just a small part of the story here as Frank has managed to weave a tapestry of fact ,his own life and history .These beautiful horse have been the prize for a number of the most feared and hated men in twentieth century  history  with Stalin and Hitler both ordered people to get the horses at one time or another .Soon after Anschluss in world war two Hitler sent people to secure the Spanish riding school which is the home of the Lipizzaner ,Hitlers own idea closely matched the breeding of the original Lipizzaner ,he’d order breeding of perfect farm animal to match his perfect Aryans .The stories of this period leads Frank to  meet a number of people or family members that were involved with the horse and made sure they were kept safe ,this also leads to other strands later on in the book as the horses  move round the central area of europe Austria ,Yugoslavia ,Romania to name three .The later two are also touched on later in the book as the break up of Yugoslavia means the a group of the horses get caught up in the warring sides and become a pawn in the end of the war .So next time I see them on a news report or a travel show I ll remember how much they have been involved in the history of modern europe and are more than just pretty horses .

A door slid open and ,Illuminated in the resulting darkness was a white horse ,standing hesitantly as though posing for a picture .The animal stepped from the frame with a graceless gait ,led by a girl in riding boots with hair down to her buttocks .At twenty ,thirty paces from my hiding place they stopped .Face to face ,even lip to lip they stood there .like two youngsters kissing .

Frank describing his first meeting with a Lipizzaner .

 

This is a book that falls in with books like Hare with Amber eyes ,rings of Saturn and wildwood .The very best of narrative prose .He use the horse connection with men as a motif for the history of the twentieth century .I was also reminded of the booker shortlisted by Simon Mawer the glass room where the book had  a house as a motif  that had been closely touched with recent history .This is a book for that difficult to buy book person that you may have brought hare or snow goose for in other years  ,also lover of great prose ,the horsey person ,the history lover .In fact if this isn’t near top of the pile this Christmas I ll be shocked because it deserves to be .I read on the Dutch wiki page this is currently in production to be a 90 min film about the horses .So this is my second choice for the dutch lit month and very pleased to review a non fiction books as not enough non fiction gets translated .The book comes out next month in the uk  .

What narrative prose do you like ?

 

 

Dublinesque by Enrique Vila-Matas Bloomsday tribute

Dublinesque by Enrique Vila-Matas

Spanish fiction

Translator -Rosalind Harvey & Anne McLean

Enrique Vila-Matas is probably one of the finest writers in modern spain .He published his first novel in 1973 and is hard to define I ve read a couple of his books and they are hard to put in a genre ,but maybe the metafiction tag works a bit for the books I ve read as they seem to mix characters from other books and take them into a new direction .He was a founding member of the order of Finnegan a society that meets at the Martello tower and walk to the Finnegan pub in the Dalkey are of Dublin so every 16th june they go over and read Ulysses on the day it is set ,so with that in mind we come to his latest translation Dublinesque

Unexpected, inspired tirade from Ricardo when they’re already a few yards inside the cemetery and he says he’s had a sudden revelation and understood everything all at once .He now sees how pertinent the funeral for the Gutenberg age is ,for we mustn’t lose sight of how much Joyce loved word play .

“and I don’t know if you’ve realised that Bloomsday “he says ,”sounds like Doomsday .And the long day Ulysses takes place on is nothing less than that .

this passage struck me as wonderful .

Dublinesque was originally published in Spanish in 2010 ,but here in english two years later and as it happens 90 years after the publication of Ulysses because this book is Villa-Matas ode to that book but maybe also an ode to the written word ,also to Dublin and it many writers .The centre character of Dublinesque is Samuel Riba ,he is a spanish publisher and is turning 60 .It easy to see parallels with Leopold Bloom the main character of Ulysses there are numerous times you see the crossover maybe this is also an honor to Odysseus and Hamlet the two works that partly inspired Joyce’s book as you see the crossover in Ulysses of the books that inspired it .Riba has a dream of going to Dublin and being there on Bloomsday even thou he has never been to Dublin in his life ,this man who feels like Cervantes don Quixote in being the last real publisher a proper editor and paper book lover fighting the battle against the digital word .So he travels to Dublin on bloomsday ,the ghost of his past and Ireland’s past mingle is there a Beckett like figure trying to give him that gem of a book ,a mackintosh figure echo the figure seen in Ulysses by Bloom at the funeral .So rather like Jason in the argonauts he has been hunting a golden fleece in Riba’s case that golden fleece is a book like the ones Beckett and Joyce wrote a writer that breaks the mould and is there to be remembered .So in going to Dublin he maybe buries his dreams like the late Paddy Dignams funeral , as he is a man at a crossroads a career ending a new turn in his life a lament for his broken dreams .He also faces is he drinking too much (is Dublin the best place to face this one does ask ?) also his marriage is wobbly .Know I’m making this feel to formal no it is a wonderful witty book at times with lots of clever ticks to Joyce work that are helped if you’ve read Ulysses but isn’t totally necessary I ve also not read Beckett seen a few of his plays on TV so some of the Beckett reference made me want to read him .

So We have another wonderful piece inspired by James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses in my opinion one of the greatest books ever written .So Vila -Matas Like Joseph Beuys who made many drawings about Bloomsday ,Phillip Larkin who’s poem Dublinesque is inspired by the book as well and also shares its title with this novel,Burgess nothing like the sun which Harold bloom noted had parallels with Ulysses .I think you’re getting the idea I loved this book in fact I had to hold my self back from writing about til today as I wanted to publish it on blooms day to honour the book the day and also give a taster of Spanish literature just before Spanish lit month next month .The books cover also honours both the book its self and Ulysses as it uses the same font in yellow that was used in the early hardback editions of Ulysses and it honours the book as it shows a man leaping maybe this is Riba the man leaping between one dream and another or from work to retirement .This book takes the micro of Joyce’s work which covers one day in a book then flips it and takes the macro vision of Riba’s whole life lived in a few days in Dublin .A history in publishing remember the books he’d seen float in front of him ,I m reminded of something I once heard Shane MaGowan says about songs being floating round just needing to be grabbed and written ,maybe novels are the same waiting there to be grabbed .If in the UK you may want catch BBC radio four today which has a day long tribute to Ulysses today .

Have your read Vila-Matas or Joyce ?

What you doing this Bloomsday ?

A death in the family by Karl Ove Knausgaard

A death in the family by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Norwegian fiction

Translator – Don Bartlett

Karl Ove Knausgaard is a Norwegian writer .He qualified in arts and literature from Bergen university and he became a writer his first novel Out of this world won a big award in Norway he was first to win it with a debut novel .His second novel was also well review and got some prizes and on some shortlists but then he change his style with this book the first in a six part biography in fiction called Min Kampf this being the same title as Hitlers bio my struggle in english which is the title the american publisher has kept for their edition .The books all together add up to over three thousand pages .They were a huge hit in Norway when they came out . Leading too much debate and chat about his book and how it touched there lives ,in the end one in five people in Norway brought a copy .He started the book when he was hitting forty as he was struggling with his writing and at the same age his dad had started going into the bottle for solace at the same age ,he said in a guardian interview he want to put something about his father on paper .

Well I suppose those of you that haven’t read this are thought like I did is this a modern version of Proust (I have only ever read the first part of Proust ) is the a Madeleine moment is it a soul search yes and yes and maybe even more so .He maybe owes more to his fellow Scandinavian the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard with Knausgaard centring on himself and his loves and hates . Updike another writer that had been influence by Kierkegaard said in his desert island interview something along the lines that early in his writing life he decide to writer about the scenes and places he knew also the people he saw every day Where as Updike always change name ,I feel Knausgaard to the brave decision to keep the actual names of every one involved .So this is fiction the people in the book exist ,so we meet his family the book opens with a death and this may well be the Madeleine moment for that is what sparks the narrative in the rest of this vol 1 ,then young Karl grows up a mother that is always elsewhere and what may be described as a classic distant father ( i was touched by this my own dad not distant but like my self a quiet man most of the time ) .We see the teen Karl as his parents split up and he grows into a rock fan Know part of me knows I would like Karl his taste in music are very similar to mine at that age The cure ,Joy division .Then his dating and early years of marriage .A ;lot of this book is told like episodes and rather like the structure of Joyce’s Ulysses ,but this book hasn’t the jarring effect that Joyce’s book has ,you seem to know when he has jumped .His father is the main character in this book I feel a quiet man who falls into the bottle after the parents marriage falls apart He comes across as one of those men you’re not over sure to act around because you never know how he will react ,also he has something I ve read about the tendency to suicide that is higher in Scandinavia than here in the uk.We see his father effect on his life and maybe as the book closes he is wanting to be different as he faces fatherhood .

For several years I had tried to write about my father, but had got nowhere, probably because the subject was too close to my life, and thus not so easy to force into another form, which of course is a prerequisite for literature. That is its sole law: everything has to submit to form…Strong themes and styles have to be broken down before literature can come into being. It is this breaking down that is called ‘writing’. Writing is more about destroying than creating.

Now He has fallen out with his family due to this endless interviews , documentaries about it in Norway his ex-wife initially keen then did a radio programme on the books effect on her own life .But maybe he has done what he want to do and that is write something new and fresh ,this book is maybe like those unusual works of art by Gunter Von Hagen ,he took dead bodies and stripped them down to the blood systems ,lungs .Knausgaard looks to be doing the same taken his own life apart and splitting it into parts to be worked over to see how he got where he was and maybe what there is for us to all learn from it ..Bartlett had kept the feel of Knausgaard from the interviews I ve read and heard by him .