A House in Norway (Et norsk hus)
Hjorth Vigdis, Charlotte Barslund (translation)°°°
Alma is a textile artist who receives an exciting commission, to design a tapestry for an exhibition to celebrate the centenary of women’s suffrage in Norway. The research is interesting & the money welcome – like many artists, she has a struggle to make ends meet – but she soon finds that it is not straightforward. An additional complication is that she is living in a large & impractical old house, & to help with the upkeep she rents out a part of it. Her new tenants are a young Polish couple, who at first seem quiet & undemanding; but soon the man disappears in suspicious circumstances, the woman has a baby & there are ongoing problems – their lifestyles are completely different, the woman keeps complaining, the rent is not paid … .
Alma becomes increasingly unsettled, torn between her image of herself as an altruistic & open-minded modern feminist & her need for personal & private space in order to create. The conflict builds to a dramatic confrontation, but can there be a satisfactory resolution?
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Vigdis Hjorth is an outspoken & controversial author who explores the boundaries between public persona & private trauma.
Charlotte Barslund is a prize-winning translator, who was recently awarded the Believer Book Award for her translation of one of Vigdis Hjorth’s novels.