"What could make a man kill the person closest to him, cut out the victim's heart and flee with the moist organ through a frosty landscape?"
On the twenty-third of May, Hedlandet residence welcomes the Danish star writer Christina Hesselholdt to Botulfshörnan in Stadshallen, for a reading and conversation with Theresa Benér.
Three of Christina Hesselholdt's (b. 1962) first four books form a trilogy. The titles were released in 1991 (the debut with The kitchen, the burial chamber & the landscape) 1993 (The hidden) respectively 1997 (The view), and in 1999 they were published in Denmark in a joint volume entitled The trilogy. Now, for the first time, we can read this highly concentrated masterpiece in Swedish, translated by Jonas Rasmussen, who also participates in the conversation.
I The outstanding Hesselholdt drills mercilessly into the complex interior of man - how trauma affects our choices, our relationships and our actions throughout life - but this without psychologizing. The style is matter-of-fact and objectively recording. The three novels are very concentrated, stylistically tight and linguistically precise, which was characteristic of the new generation of Danish prose writers of the 90s.
The author dissolves the novel genre by reducing a chronological story to scenes that form the kind of mosaic that the reader gets to take part in. Christina Hesselholdt is considered one of the Nordic countries' most significant authors, a multiple award recipient with fifteen books behind her since her debut in 1991, several of which were critical successes, such as The Company (Sällskapet) (in Swedish 2017).
Theresa Benér is active in Swedish media as a theater critic and culture writer, specializing in European contemporary theatre. She is also co-owner of the bookstore Bokvärlden in Malmö.
Free entry, pre-registration recommended: report your interest to info@hedlandetresidens.se
The event is organized by Hedlandet residence in collaboration with Palaver Press and with the support of Region Skåne and Lund municipality.