Roy Jacobsen’s trilogy from Northern Norway has sold almost 300,000 copies in his native country. Now these “exotic” novels are conquering the world.
Roy Jacobsen is one of Norway’s biggest selling and most critically acclaimed authors. Since his debut in 1982, he has released a string of novels and short stories, which have been read, loved and praised. The last three, about Ingrid from Barrøy, depicting events from the first half of the previous century, have also taken foreign readers by storm. The first of these, The Unseen (translated by Don Bartlett og Don Shaw for MacLehose Press, norw. De usynlige), was shortlisted for both the Dublin Literary Award and the International Man Booker Award.
Frankfurt 2019
Roy Jacobsen is very pleased that Norway will be the Guest of Honour at Frankfurt in 2019. “Look at it as an investment,” he says. “Literature, at least some of it, contributes to the community. How much did Jostein Gaarder pay in tax when Sofie’s World made him the world’s biggest selling author?”
Is there anything for you at the Frankfurt fair? Is it important to you?
‘I’m translated into 41 languages, so I’m not exactly counting on being discovered there,‘ smiles the author, who already has something between ten and fifteen titles translated into German. ‘But Germany is a cultural nation. It is the second-most important language in literature, and probably the language most translated into. And for many it’s an important step on the road ahead. You don’t go straight to Albanian or Chinese. You translate first into German or English. Then you might get read and also translated into other languages.‘
With Iceland’s commitment
When Iceland was the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011, Halldór Gudmundsson was the head of the initiative, as he now is for Norway’s initiative. Icelandophile Roy Jacobsen was also involved at the time.
‘I had been involved in making an edition of the sagas to be published in Iceland. I spend a lot of time in the country and can speak a little Icelandic. When Iceland was the Guest of Honour I saw how nicely it could be done. Now Norwegian literature is in a healthy period as well. Norway is perhaps the most vibrant literary country in the Nordic region right now, along with Iceland. So Frankfurt 2019 can be very important.‘
Ingrid
Jacobsen’s three books about Ingrid from Barrøy, The Unseen, White Ocean and The Eyes of Rigel, have been a fairy tale success for the 63-year-old author. It was said that the third book would be the last, but its conclusion is quite open-ended, keeping the possibility of more books open.
Are you done with Ingrid now?
‘Ha ha. No, I can’t promise you that. I certainly think there will be more now, but I can’t announce something until it’s definite. It all depends on where my head is. Another idea might pop up that drives me there.‘
Were you surprised by Ingrid’s success?
‘Yes, I was. The books have sold almost 300,000 copies in Norway, and I hadn’t expected that. I really didn’t think the first book would be such a big hit either. I think it’s been published in 25 languages now, which shows that you can be as exotic as you want and still have a hit. I suspected this when I saw a copy of Vesaas’ novel The Birds in French. The events of a small secluded Norwegian village, and an international success. No, being exotic is certainly no obstacle.‘
“The Highest Truth”
Several books lie on a table in the author’s home. The top one is a copy of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
‘I’m a little involved in translator issues too,‘ says Jacobsen. ‘It’s difficult with Russian, which I don’t understand. But listen to what the tragic, alcoholic figure Marmeladov says in the book: ‘Poverty is no burden. It is the highest truth.’‘
Crime and Punishment is about a murder, the police hunt for the murderer, and the murderer’s anguish. Among other things. Norwegian literature’s great export in recent years has been crime fiction.
Does Roy Jacobsen read contemporary crime fiction as well?
‘One or two a year,‘ he says. ‘What gets me to read crime fiction occasionally is how the author maintains a narrative technique. I respect that,‘ says Roy Jacobsen.
Jacobsen now has a new translation of Njáls saga, an old saga set in Iceland around the year 1000.
‘It occupies your thoughts. That’s what it’s like to be an author. And as you know I’m very interested in history,‘ he says. ‘I’ve read history like a madman all of my life. And not for research, purely out of interest. But during the reading process, ideas come about …‘
For more information
Cappelen Damm Agency: The Unseen
Books from Norway: Roy Jacobsen