The Content Reader

This post is written also for the Read the Nobels  hosted by Aloi ( Guiltless Reading ) Harry Martinson is a Swedish Nobel Prize Laureate, receiving the prize in 1974 together with another Swedish writer Eyvind Johnson ”for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos”. He also wrote poetry, and is one of the best known ’proletarian’ writers in Sweden. I have finally got around to read one of his most famous and auto-biographical books,  Nässlorna blomma  (Flowering Nettle). It is about the boy Martin (Martinson’s alter ego), 7-11 years old during the story, and whose mantra is ”my father is dead and my mother is in California”. Martinson lost his parents at a young age; his father died and his mother left him to move to Portland, USA. He spent his earlier years in foster care. It has certainly influenced his writing in general and is specifically present in this novel. We follow Martin from when his father dies and his mother leaves the children behind...

Just before I left Sweden I bought four more pocket books. There is this offer of 'Buy 4, Pay for 3'. Fair enough. Three of them are Swedish and one is American. Nässlorna blomma by Harry Martinsson A Swedish classic. Martinsson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974. Blekingegatan 32 by Lena Einhorn A book about Greta Garbo. The title is the address where she lived. Lena Einhorn wrote a very good biography about Siri von Essen, one of the wives of August Strindberg. Alkemistens dotter by Carl-Michael Edenborgh A new writer for me. It is about alchemists in the 18th century. Sounds interesting to me. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker Also a new acquaintance to me. A successful New York lawyer, happily married with two children, just leaves without an explanation. Four years later, his wife finds an old love letter that was never posted, addressed to an unknown woman with an address in Burma. His daughter Julia hopes this means h...