The Discoverer (84 page)
Authors: Jan Kjaerstad
So far I have not understood a thing, he thought. I need to go back to the very beginning.
JAN KJÆRSTAD
is one of Norway’s most acclaimed writers. His trilogy
The Seducer, The Conqueror
and
The Discoverer
(Arcadia) has achieved huge
international
success and won him the prestigious Nordic Council Prize,
Scandinavia
’s highest literary honour.
BARBARA J. HAVELAND
has translated works by several leading Danish and Norwegian authors incuding Peter Høeg, Linn Ullmann and Leif Davidsen.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2009
by Arcadia Books, 15-16 Nassau Street, London, W1W 7AB
This ebook edition first published in 2011
Originally published in Norwegian by H. Aschehoug & Co. in 1999
Translation from the Norwegian © Barbara J. Haveland
All rights reserved
© Jan Kjærstad, 1999
The right of Jan Kjærstad to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–1–908129–54–3
Jan Kjærstad
The Seducer
Winner of the Nordic Prize for Literature 2001
Translated from the Norwegian by Barbara J. Haveland
Jonas Wergeland is a successful TV documentary producer and also
something
of God’s gift to women, with balls of gold, as one newspaper puts it. One day he returns from the World’s Fair in Seville and discovers his wife dead on the living-room floor. What follows is a quest to find the killer but more than that is a playful look at how our hero has arrived at this particular juncture in a life full of twists and turns.
This post-modernist Norwegian novel, an international bestseller and winner of Scandinavia’s top literary award, the Nordic Prize, will have you on the edge of your seat, as Jan Kjærstad weaves his magic wand. Prepare to be seduced.
‘An enormously accomplished and compelling novel by one of Scandinavia’s outstanding contemporary writers. Barbara J. Haveland and Arcadia Books have performed a great service by giving us Kjærstad in English at last’ – Paul Auster
‘An irresistibly playful romp, by turns mischievous, manipulative, intellectual and bluntly sensual… hugely satisfying’ – Ali Smith,
Books of the Year, TLS
Price £8.99
ISBN: 19781905147014
Jan Kjær
stad
The Conqueror
Translated from the Norwegian by Barbara J. Haveland
In the second volume of the trilogy about Jonas Wergeland, Jan Kjærstad’s narrative enmeshes the reader even more closely not only in the life of one man, but also in that of an entire nation and its culture in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Jonas Wergeland has been convicted of the murder of his wife Margrete. What brought Norway’s darling to this end? A professor has been set the task of writing the biography of the once celebrated, now notorious,
television
personality; in doing so he hopes to solve the riddle of Jonas Wergeland’s success and downfall. But the sheer volume of material on his subject is so daunting that the professor finds himself completely bogged down, at a loss as to how to proceed, until the evening when a mysterious stranger knocks on his door, and offers to tell him stories which will help him unravel the strands of Wergeland’s life.
‘Go on, try something different – this brick of a book is witty, savage, elegant and strange – and comes from Norway’s leading writer’ –
The Times
‘One of the most important novels you’ll read this year’ –
Sunday Herald
Price £8.99
ISBN: 9781905147380
