Author(s): Stig Saeterbakken; Stokes Schwartz (Translator)

Novel | Dalkey Archive Press | Translated fiction | Norway

A brutally comic portrait of marriage, taken to extremes reminiscent of the work of Samuel Beckett and Thomas Bernhard.

Edwin Mortens is almost blind, but has good hearing; his wife Erna is hard of hearing, but has excellent eyes. Paralyzed from the waist down, Edwin sits locked in his bathroom all day, every day, trying to liberate his mind from his body. The experiment is going relatively well: nearly all his bodily functions have ceased, his limbs are in a state of decay, and his digestive system is in the process of breaking down. "This body," he says, "is a sewer." To pass the time, Edwin dedicates his days to chewing gum and screaming at his wife, on whom he is, nonetheless, entirely dependent; while Erna's life, despite Edwin's constant abuse, revolves around her hideous husband. Edwin and Erna live in a state of perfect equilibrium--fueled by habit, cruelty, humiliation, and quite possibly love--until a young maintenance man is called to replace a lightbulb in Edwin's bathroom, and the "Siamese twins" find themselves embroiled in a new and vicious struggle for power.

Review:

"One of the most interesting contemporary authors in Europe: always controversial and never uncomplicated, he forces the reader to confront the less flattering sides of both self and society."

* Eurozine *

"A perfect novel. Edwin Mortens must hereafter be reckoned as one of the great, monstrous inventions in literature. Stig Saeterbakken has, in his plain, precise and economical language accomplished a complex portrayal of a tragicomical downfall."

-- Karsten Sand Iversen * Standart *

Author Biography: Stig Saeterbakken (1966-2012) was one of Norway's most acclaimed contemporary writers. His novels include Through the Night and Siamese (also published by Dalkey Archive).