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This novel revolves around the weekly `sewing circle' meetings of four life-long friends. Though they hide it from themselves, their thoughts and memories reveal the spiteful, long-buried motivations behind seemingly innocent actions. The masks finally drop during an eight-course meal on a celebratory trip to Copenhagen, revealing undisguised fear and loathing. Shocking secrets are unearthed as the balance of power subtly shifts from one to the other. Brilliantly observed, this is female bonding at its worst, manipulative, and psychotic, exposing the dependency and deceit behind the compassionate and affectionate façade. ... Read more

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Dea Trier Morch depicts with common skill an experience that pays no attention to language differences or national boundaries: childbirth. Set in a maternity ward for difficult cases, her novel is unique in focusing on the weeks immediately before and after delivery. ... Read more

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Wagner was one of the ""New Women"" prominent in the literature and culture of the early twentieth century in Europe and the United States. While continuing as a journalist, she began to write innovative fiction in the bold spirit of contemporaries she admired, among them Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Olive Schreiner, and Vera Brittain. She was born in Lund in southern Sweden in 1882. Her mother died when she was three. Although an aunt came to fill the gap, Elin felt the loss all her life and expressed it in many ways in her writing. Her father, a minister and school principal, sent her brother Harald to university but refused to do the same for Elin. She dropped out of high school in anger. After serving as her father's secretary for a short time, she created her own career in journalism, starting as a reviewer and reporter for a local paper. Before long she moved to Stockholm, where for many years she was a successful reporter, columnist, and reviewer for the liberal daily Dagens Nyheter. This, her second novel, is about, about suffragettes in Stockholm.It appeared in 1910. The protagonist, a journalist, plans to maintain her independence in a liberated marriage as she continues to be active in the struggle for women's rights. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: Chicago, S.C. Griggs; Publication date: 1884; Subjects: Scandinavia; Scandinavian literature; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

getting started
This is Kihlman's second novel (his first one "Se upp salige" caused a scandal in Swedish-Finnish circles in 1960), and like in the first book he deals with the terrors of a family that is perfect on the outside and quite empty and bored on the inside. The complex themes of this novel might be hard to appreciate for an American audience that wants more straighforward writing and I suggest that anyone who want to know more about the background should check out Henrik Tikkanen's masterpiece "Snobs' Island" (available through zshops). In an interview last year mr. Kihlman proclaimed himself to be a happily married but totally depraved person. Much respected in Finnish literary circles, Kihlman has a very charming humour and is known for downplaying his own literary achievements. Currently he is suffering from writer's block and hasn't published any novel since "The downfall of Bladh" in the middle 80's. Well, he rarely gives interviews either, but when he does, he usually says something very worthwhile on the current state of affairs of our country. This book is considered a classic in Scandinavian litetarure, but I wonder what the Americans will make of it...

A Literary Soap Opera Bombshell
The Blue Mother centers around the recollections of two brothers. Man, are these two screwed up fellas! Benno is a mentally ill basket case who's institutionalized for an attempted suicide due to several bizarre homosexual encounters. His brother Raf may be more intelligently aware, but he's a psycological basket-case as well as alcoholic & marital cheat. The book has a soap opera-like theme to it, but Kihlman is a brilliant writer and the novel is hallucinatorily surreal. Here's another amazing writer virtually unknown to American readers & it's a shame. He's a genius. ... Read more

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"Hermundsgard's knowledge of Vesaas is undeniable and he has read widely, carefully, and thoughtfully in other sources for this book. He provides a working definition of primitivism (not just a literary style, but a philosophy of life), explains how this is expressed in Vesaas's writing, and demonstrates how the primitivism of Vesaas fits into the context of Scandinavian primitivism in general. He succeeds in presenting this complex thesis in a clear style that encourages the reader to turn to Vesaas's own works not only to verify that thesis but for personal enrichment. Extensive bibliographic notes plus a good primary and secondary bibliography of sources in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, and English." Choice ... Read more

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Originally published in 1895. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

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Hjalmar Bergman is one of the most important figures in twentieth-century Swedish literature, and his last novel, Jac the Clown (1930), is widely considered to be his best and most innovative work. Shaped by his own experiences as a Hollywood script writer, and tragi-comic in tone, it tells the story of Benjamin 'Benbé' Borck, who travels to America to visit his famous artist cousin, the 'clown' of the title, Jac Tracbac, alias Jonathan Borck, Bergman's alter ego; his trip is bizarre and almost surreal, as is the eponymous Jac, whom Bergman depicts as attempting to break out of the commercial exploitation of Hollywood. In his catechism at the end of the novel Jac makes public the origins and purpose of his (and Bergman's) art; depending on and provoking an audience's laughter, it is shown to spring from and reflect the fear and anguish which are central to the human condition, but also to allow these emotions to be dispelled through laughter. Dr Weiss's sensitive translation brilliantly conveys the spirit and tone of the original. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

There lives clown in each and everyone of us
This is the story of the world famous clown Jac Tracbac, who lives in Hollywood. He is visited by a distant relative from Sweden and the ageing clown relives his youth and childhood in the old country. This is HjalmarBergmans last book he ever wrote. It's the story of an ageing artist whogathers his powers for one last grand performance, this is the closestthing to an autobiography that Hjalmar Bergman ever wrote. It's well worthreading ... Read more

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Ivar Lo-Johansson (1901-1990), a leading literary figure in Sweden, was the last surviving member of the so-called 'thirties generation', largely self-educated writers from impoverished backgrounds, who wrote about their roots. In the 1950s he began a series of autobiographical novels examining the experiences of his youthful alter-ego; while his tone is ironical, he does not diminish the reader's sympathy for the hardships the protagonist undergoes. Gärdfarihandlaren (Peddling My Wares), the second of these works, draws on Lo-Johansson's own life when, aged nineteen, he spent a summer cycling through Sweden trying to peddle small goods; his protagonist is fleeing the horizons of his poverty-stricken childhood while trying to come to terms with his own identity. Through a series of adventures, some comical, some disturbing, the hero gradually learns that a romantic dream of total freedom is both impossible and foolish. This novel has enjoyed wide critical and popular acclaim, and has been reissued in Swedish many times since its first appearance in 1953; first English translation. ... Read more

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A study of "ethnic poetics" in old Norse literature with particular attention to Orvar Odds saga, Swenson's book treats the boast-insult debate tradition, a hotly debated topic in recent years.Swenson's study provides original and provocative judgements on earlier commentaries.Swenson provides a helpful outline of contemporary theory in the opening chapters before turning to the actual genre discussion and explication of a single saga text. ... Read more

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