Customer Reviews (1)

That Handsome Boy Has a Heart of Glass
Anders, a boy in the novella 'Guest of Reality' and a young man in the sequel novella 'The Difficult Journey,' thinks about life more than he needs to, and about death more than he wants to, to thrive in the warm, busy, faith-bounded environment of his family and his farm-village life in rural Sweden. Evolution makes such mistakes at times; the boy is over-endowed with sensitivity, to which no one in his milieu can respond, and thus he feels misplaced and becomes rancorous. Anders is a boy who knows, from his earliest moment of self-awareness, that he can never be as happy as he feels he should be, though he is - to the reader's relief - ecstatically happy at times. Yet even in moments of rapture, he remembers death; that 'memento mori' doesn't make him a proper Lutheran Christian, however, no, not by any means, since the God his family adores seems to him a God of darkness. The narrative of 'Guest of Reality' centers around the death of Anders's grandmother, a experience which leaves the boy terrified of his own mortality.

The sequel 'Difficult Journey" finds Anders a complexly dissatisfied young man who has taken to the road, gone abroad to find the milieu of intellect that was so absent from his childhood. Guess what! He falls in love with a woman like and unlike himself in every way, and the two of them are passionately unable to accept happiness, to be tolerant of their own love-without-intimacy.

If there is a borderline between Anders and his author Lagerkvist, the reader will hardly credit it. Every note of anguish and of ecstasy in these companion novellas peals clearly of autobiography. At times, being a sensitive Swede myself, I do lose track of identities, muddling Anders, Lagerkvist, and myself together.That has to be the seal of strong writing, doesn't it? The boy Anders especially touches chords of memory in me that resonate powerfully. Yes, this is another story of a boy losing his religious comfort, but it's a very subtle and concise version of that story, utterly poignant and utterly believable. The young man Anders is not easy to love - most of us young men aren't - but his dysfunctional sensibilities are the core distresses of our post-rural society.

Lagerkvist's characters are only joyful when they forget themselves, at least partially, in nature. And Lagerkvist writes lyrically only when he's describing nature as they find it around themselves. Then he writesbeautifully. In 'Difficult Journey', he has occasion to write about the gardens of Denmark, the farmlands of Sweden, and the mountains of Norway all in the scope of a few pages. Each description is precisely evocative, thrillingly lyrical, integral to the narrative yet poetically complete in itself.

Sandwiched between the two novellas is the story 'Father and I'. Anders goes for a walk along the railroad track with his father, who works for the railroad. They are almost hit by a train that isn't one of the regulars. Anders 'learns' that his father and he can't feel the same emotions about life and death. It's a limpid little story, resonant in its simplicity, a world classic in my view.

Lagerkvist wrote 40-some books, of which the best known is 'Barabbas,' and won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1951, but his work is still not widely known to English readers. This collection of two novellas and a short-short story - five pages - offers compelling incentives to read more. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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Chapters: People From Växjö, Pär Lagerkvist, Christina Nilsson, Jonas Björkman, Stefan Johansson, Mats Wilander, Thomas Ravelli, Anders Lundegård, Agnes Von Krusenstjerna, Joachim Björklund, Ola Salo, Christian Quadflieg, Markus Jonsson, Håkan Syrén, Martin Kellerman, Andreas Ravelli, Ludwig Ernstsson, Sigfrid of Sweden, Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Otto Lindblad, Tony Cronstam, Lars-Åke Lagrell, Agne Bergvall, Peter Wibrån, Peter Widén, Henric Holmberg, Owe Jonsson, Ann-Marie Wiman. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 96. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Jonas Lars Björkman (Swedish pronunciation: ; born 23 March 1972, Alvesta, Sweden) is a former World Number 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships. He has won the career Grand Slam in men's doubles. On 20 November 2006, he replaced Dick Norman as the oldest player in the ATP Top 100 (singles) when Norman dropped out of the Top 100 for the last time. On 9 June 2008, aged 36 years and 2 months, Björkman was himself succeeded in this honour by Fabrice Santoro after dropping out of the Top 100 in his turn. Björkman has enjoyed successful long-term doubles partnerships with Jan Appel, Jacco Eltingh, Nicklas Kulti, Max Mirnyi, Patrick Rafter, Kevin Ullyett, and Todd Woodbridge. He has won the career Grand Slam in men's doubles, holding a total of 9 major championships. The son of tennis coach and mailman Lars Björkman, Jonas began playing tennis at the age of six. At 18, he won the Swedish Junior Championship and was among the top 5 junior Swede players. He married Petra on 2 December 2000 in Stockholm and has a son, Max (born 15 January 2003). He plays right-handed and has a particularly good ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1964402 ... Read more

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Chapters: Pär Lagerkvist, Verner Von Heidenstam, Carl Michael Bellman, Zachris Topelius, Kristina Lugn, Viktor Rydberg, Edith Södergran, Ture Nerman, Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna, Dan Andersson, Gustaf Fröding, Gunnar Ekelöf, Karin Boye, Lars Gustafsson, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Tomas Tranströmer, Hjalmar Gullberg, Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Karl Vennberg, Erik Johan Stagnelius, Tua Forsström, Oscar Levertin, Bo Bergman, Gunno Dahlstierna, Gustaf Philip Creutz, Majken Johansson, Bengt Lidner, Kjell Westö, Nils Ferlin, Anders Abraham Grafström, Artur Lundkvist, Thomas Thorild, Bodil Malmsten, Karl Fredrik Dahlgren, Bruno K. Öijer, Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Sonja Åkesson, Werner Aspenström, Julia Nyberg, Beppe Wolgers, K. J. Gabrielsson, Oscar Patric Sturzen-Becker, Elmer Diktonius. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 167. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Abraham Viktor Rydberg (Jönköping, December 18, 1828 Djursholm, September 21, 1895) was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877-1895. "Primarily a classical idealist", "Viktor Rydberg, poet, novelist, essayist, idealist philosopher and one of the prominent figures in Swedish intellectual life in the latter half of the nineteenth century", has been described as "Sweden's last Romantic" and by 1859 was "generally regarded in the first rank of Swedish novelists." "The leading cultural figure of his day, he also wrote works on philosophy, philology, and aesthetics." As "an idealist faithful to the Romantic tradition in poetry and thought, but with a mind receptive to the ideas of a new age. He achieved an unequalled position of authority in Swedish literature" and "with his broad range of achievements, greatly influenced Swedish cultural life" He came to be described by subsequent biographer Judith Moffett as "a 'man of letters'...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=780870 ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Pär Lagerkvist, Björn Ulvaeus, Ture Nerman, Zeth Höglund, Stellan Skarsgård, José González, Christer Fuglesang, Johan Norberg, Lars Ohly, Tage Danielsson, Björn Strid, Dilsa Demirbag Sten, Ali Esbati, Bengt Westerberg, Johan Hegg, Peter Eriksson, Christer Sturmark. Excerpt:Ali Esbati Ali Esbati (born September 12, 1976) is a Swedish politician (of the Left Party ), and was the chairman of Young Left 2001-2004. As of today he is a handling officer of labour market policies at the Left Party's office of the Riksdag and the chairman of the Left Party's program commission. He is most famous for his blogging; his blog Esbatis Kommentarer is one of the most popular Swedish political blogs. Esbati currently lives in Norway , working as a freelance writer after recently resigning from his position as debate and opinion editor in Norwegian daily left-leaning newspaper Klassekampen . He is also a common contributor to Swedish magazine Flamman . Apart from articles published in these and various other magazines and newspapers and in Esbati's blog , Esbati has also been published in a number of books. Biography Esbati was born in Teheran , Iran and came to Sweden in 1985 with his mother and one younger brother (his father arrived six months later). He grew up in the suburb Tensta , north of Stockholm , and joined Young Left in 1990. After primary school, he attended high school in Tensta and another one, specialized in mathematics , in Danderyd . After graduation he began studying at the Stockholm School of Economics . In 1999-2000 he completed his military service at Televapenkompaniet in Uppland , where he also was trained in Russian . Bibliography References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Bengt Carl Gustaf Westerberg (born 23 August 1943, in Södertälje , Stoc... ... Read more

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Chapters: Horace Engdahl, Elias Magnus Fries, Pär Lagerkvist, Verner Von Heidenstam, Sture Allén, Sven Hedin, Viktor Rydberg, Dag Hammarskjöld, Selma Lagerlöf, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Esaias Tegnér, Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, List of Members of the Swedish Academy, Göran Malmqvist, Pehr Henrik Ling, Gunnar Ekelöf, Harry Martinson, Sten Rudholm, Johan Olof Wallin, Gustaf Retzius, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Birgitta Trotzig, Gunnar Wennerberg, Peter Englund, Louis Gerhard de Geer, Torgny Lindgren, Eyvind Johnson, Hjalmar Gullberg, Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Oscar Montelius, Per Wästberg, Adolf Noreen, Hans Forssell, Nathan Söderblom, Carl Gustaf Nordin, Lars Forssell, Lars Gyllensten, Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Anders Johan Von Höpken, Bo Bergman, Carl Snoilsky, Anders Fryxell, Jacob Axel Lindblom, Kerstin Ekman, Johannes Edfelt, Carl August Hagberg, Anders Fredrik Skjöldebrand, Gustaf Af Wetterstedt, Carl Adolph Agardh, Axel Von Fersen the Elder, Knut Ahnlund, Sten Lindroth, Albert Engström, Frans Michael Franzén, Jesper Svenbro, Anders Abraham Grafström, Artur Lundkvist, Erik Lönnroth, Anders Olsson, Fredrik Böök, Clas Theodor Odhner, Bernhard Von Beskow, Katarina Frostenson, Ivar Afzelius, Albrecht Elof Ihre, Erik Gustaf Geijer, Christian Eric Fahlcrantz, Nils Christian Irgens, Carl Fredrik Af Wingård, Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Bror Emil Hildebrand, Per Olof Sundman, Tor Andræ, Anton Niklas Sundberg, Nils Lorens Sjöberg, Henrik Reuterdahl, Gustaf Ljunggren, Fredrik August Dahlgren, Hans Hildebrand, Henrik Schück, Olle Hedberg, Gunnel Vallquist, Ulf Linde, Elias Wessén, Per Hallström, Bo Ralph, Kjell Espmark, Otto Von Friesen, Carl Von Rosenstein, Hans Järta, Nils Philip Gyldenstolpe, Christofer Rutger Ludvig Manderström, Theodor Wisén. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 321. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=529134 ... Read more

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Chapters: Swedish Language Poets, Swedish Poems, Pär Lagerkvist, Verner Von Heidenstam, Aniara, Carl Michael Bellman, Zachris Topelius, Kristina Lugn, Viktor Rydberg, Edith Södergran, Ture Nerman, Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna, Dan Andersson, Epistles of Fredman, Gustaf Fröding, Gunnar Ekelöf, Karin Boye, Lars Gustafsson, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Tomas Tranströmer, Hjalmar Gullberg, Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Karl Vennberg, Erik Johan Stagnelius, Songs of Fredman, Tua Forsström, Oscar Levertin, Bo Bergman, Gunno Dahlstierna, Gustaf Philip Creutz, Majken Johansson, Bengt Lidner, Kjell Westö, Nils Ferlin, Anders Abraham Grafström, Artur Lundkvist, Thomas Thorild, Bodil Malmsten, Karl Fredrik Dahlgren, Bruno K. Öijer, Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Sonja Åkesson, Werner Aspenström, Julia Nyberg, Beppe Wolgers, K. J. Gabrielsson, Oscar Patric Sturzen-Becker, Elmer Diktonius. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 173. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Abraham Viktor Rydberg (Jönköping, December 18, 1828 Djursholm, September 21, 1895) was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877-1895. "Primarily a classical idealist", "Viktor Rydberg, poet, novelist, essayist, idealist philosopher and one of the prominent figures in Swedish intellectual life in the latter half of the nineteenth century", has been described as "Sweden's last Romantic" and by 1859 was "generally regarded in the first rank of Swedish novelists." "The leading cultural figure of his day, he also wrote works on philosophy, philology, and aesthetics." As "an idealist faithful to the Romantic tradition in poetry and thought, but with a mind receptive to the ideas of a new age. He achieved an unequalled position of authority in Swedish literature" and "with his broad range of achievements, greatly influenced Swedish cultural life" ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=780870 ... Read more