A literary trip to Norway with Alex

Although lockdown measures are being eased around the world, it will probably take some time for international travel to fully bounce back. In the meantime, a good book can take us to all those places we can’t (or may not yet want to) physically travel to. A few weeks ago, my friend Deborah sent me a link to the article ’10 of the best novels set in Greece – that will take you there’ recently published in the Guardian. This gave me the inspiration for this literary trip to Norway, one of my favorite travel destinations.

A literary trip to Norway with Jo Nesbø and Harry Hole

Jo Nesbø is the most famous, as well as one of my favorite, Norwegian crime writers. Nesbø used to work as a freelance journalist and a stockbroker before he began his writing career.

His famous ‘Harry Hole’ series, named after the fictional police detective, includes 12 novels:

1. The Bat
2. Cockroaches
3. The Redbreast
4. Nemesis
5. The Devil’s Star
6. The Redeemer
7. The Snowman
8. The Leopard
9. Phantom
10. Police
11. The Thirst
12. Knife

Originally written in Norwegian, they have all been translated in English. ‘The Redbreast’ is the first of these novels to be set in Norway, whereas ‘The Snowman’ was the first to be adapted into a film, which was directed by Tomas Alfredson and starred Michael Fassbender (2017).

Nesbø has also written two novels in the ‘Olav Johansen’ series, stand-alone novels, and children’s books. 

In 2011, ’Headhunters’ was adapted into a film (Hodejegerne) directed by Morten Tyldum.

‘The Kingdom’ is the next Jo Nesbø book to be published, due on 17 September 2020. It is a stand-alone thriller that I am so looking forward to reading. Here is the synopsis, as published on the author’s website:

In the mountains of Norway a man lives a peaceful existence. However one day his younger brother, always the more successful and charming of the two, turns up to visit, accompanied by his new wife. It soon turns out that the little brother is not quite as angelic as he seems. This compellingly dark new thriller from the Sunday Times number one bestseller has a plot as explosive and multi-layered as any of the Harry Hole novels.

A literary trip to Norway with Jørn Lier Horst and William Wisting

I first came across the homicide detective William Wisting a few years ago, when I read Jørn Lier Horst’s crime novel ‘Closed for Winter’ (‘Vinterstengt’). This was the Norwegian author’s second book to be translated into English, but the seventh in the William Wisting series. 

A former Senior Investigating Officer at Vestfolf Police district, Horst has kept busy writing crime novels since 2004.

His ‘William Wisting’ series includes 13 novels, seven of which have been translated in English:

1. Dregs
2. Closed for Winter 
3. The Hunting Dogs 
4. The Caveman 
5. Ordeal
6. When It Grows Dark (William Wisting Series Prequel)
7. The Katharina Code
8. The Cabin

The Norwegian TV series ‘Wisting’ is based on two of these novels. In episodes 1-5, which are based on ‘The Caveman’, the detective heads a murder investigation with FBI collaboration, chasing a serial killer who had escaped from the US to Norway. In episodes 6-10, which are based on ‘The Hunting Dogs , Wisting faces accusations of tampering with evidence in an old murder case, raising questions about the innocence of the person convicted. Both stories take place in Larvik, a coastal town southwest of Oslo. ’Wisting’ holds the record of the most expensive TV drama series produced in Norway. I watched it on BBC earlier this year; it is currently available to watch on the BBC i-player.

Horst has also written 10 novels in the ‘Clue’ series (not yet translated in English), as well as children’s books.

A literary trip to Norway with Karin Fossum and Konrad Sejer 

Often referred to as the ‘Norwegian queen of crime’, Karin Fossum began her literary career as a poet. She has been writing murder mysteries since the 1990s. So far, I have only read her novel ‘In the Darkness’, first published (in Norwegian) in 1995 but translated in English in 2012. It is the first in the ‘Inspector Sejer’ series, which includes 13 novels, all of which have now been translated in English: 

1. Eva’s Eye / In the Darkness
2. Don’t Look Back
3. He Who Fears the Wolf
4. When the Devil Holds the Candle 
5. Calling Out For You / The Indian Bride
6. Black Seconds
7. The Murder of Harriet Krohn
8. The Water’s Edge
9. Bad Intentions
10. The Caller 
11. The Drowned Boy
12. Hell Fire
13. The Whisperer

‘Eva’s Eye’ has been adapted into a film, whereas some of the other novels have been adapted into TV series.

The Italian film ‘The Girl by the Lake’ (‘La ragazza del lago’), directed by Andrea Molaioli and starring Valeria Golino, is based on the second novel in the ‘Inspector Sejer’ series, ‘Don’t Look Back’. The film takes place in North Italy, whereas the novel is set in Norway.

Fossum has also written stand-alone novels, some of which have been translated in English.

A trip around the world with Erling Kagge

Not all Norwegian books are about murders and serious crimes. In ‘Silence In The Age Of Noise’, Erling Kagge, a Norwegian explorer, writer and publisher, shares his reflections on the value of silence.

Comprising 33 chapters, this book takes us on a journey around the world, from Oslo, where Kagge currently lives, all the way to Antarctica, where the author spent 50 days in total silence, walking all by himself from the northern edge of the continent to the South Pole. We sail through the Atlantic Ocean and walk in New York City’s underground tunnels and sewage system, before climbing to the top of the Williamsburg Bridge to watch the sunrise. We fly to Sri Lanka for a yoga retreat and listen to the sounds of a whale during a sailing trip in the South Pacific Ocean, before spending four days walking around the anything-but-silent Los Angeles.

Kagge also travels us through literature and the arts. With the help of a selection of philosophers, writers, explorers and artists from Norway and the rest of the world, Kagge provides invaluable insights into silence. 

Amongst Kagge’s compatriots sharing their wisdom, are the playwright Jon Fosse, the explorer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen, the poet Rolf Jacobsen and the philosopher Lars Svendsen. Other philosophers encountered in this journey include the Ancient Greeks Aristotle and Plato, the Germans Immanuel Kant and Martin Heidegger, the Danish Søren Kierkegaard, the Austrian-British Ludwig Wittgenstein and the French Denis Diderot.

We encounter famous authors and poets, such as the Japanese poet and haiku master Bashō, the American author David Foster Wallace, the English poet William Blake, and the late British author and Neurologist Oliver Sacks.

We listen to Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies, John Cage’s three-movement composition ‘4’33’, Depeche Mode’s ‘All I Ever Wanted’ and Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’.

Finally, we take a look at Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ and we sit opposite Marina Abramović in her performance ‘The Artist Is Present’.

Meanwhile, Ed Ruscha’s paintings illustrate the pages of ‘Silence In The Age Of Noise’. It is another coincidence that my first encounter with Ruscha took place in Bergen, several years ago. I happened to be visiting whilst KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes featured an exhibition with the works of the American artist.

A trip to Norway with Julien S. Bourelle

Having been on a trip around the world with Norwegian author and explorer Erling Kagge, let’s now go on a trip to Norway with the Canadian ex-pat Julien S. Bourelle. 

I came across ‘The Social Guidebook to Norway: An Illustrated Introduction’ whilst sitting at a cafe in Trondheim last year. Burrelle uses his sense of humor to help introduce the foreign reader to the Norwegian (and Scandinavian) psyche and social etiquette. Packed with useful insights into the Norwegians’ values (both on an individual and a collective level), this beautifully illustrated book is the first in a series of four books. 

I am yet to read ‘The Social Guidebook to Norway 2: Friendships & Relationships’ (also by Bourelle), ‘The 100 Unwritten Norwegian Social Laws‘ (by Egil Aslak Aursand Hagerup) and ‘Norwegian Food: Do they really eat this?’. 

A trip to the Nordic countries with Michael Booth

Last but not least, let’s go on a trip around the Nordic countries with Michael Booth, an English-born journalist and food and travel writer residing in Denmark. In ‘The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia’, Booth visits each of the five Nordic countries and explores the secrets to Scandinavian success and happiness; he also sheds light on the darker corners of Nordic societies, where taboos, parochialism and extremism flourish. In the chapters on Norway, he discusses the Norwegians’ affinity to nature and how the discovery in 1969 of oil reserves in the North Sea transformed the country. He also explores issues pertaining to national identity, integration, immigration, Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism in modern Norway. 

Further reading:

If you’re looking for the perfect soundtrack to this literary trip to Norway, check out my posts:

A musical journey to Norway

Bergen International Festival, Music & Silence

If you’d rather go on a cinematic trip to Norway, check out my posts:

A cinematic journey to the Nordic countries

12 Norwegian TV series to watch

For more literary trips around the world, check out the following articles published in the Guardian:

10 of the best novels set in Greece – that will take you there

10 of the best novels set in Italy – that will take you there

10 of the best novels about France – that will take you there

10 of the best novels set in Spain – that will take you there

Last but not least, there’s another article I recently read, which recommends one travel book for each of the seven continents:

Travel through literature: a book for every continent

Stay at home, stay well and stay safe!

Alex

(the London-based Traveling Psychiatrist)