When self-esteem is broken and crushed

Those are author Vigdis Hjorth’s own words about her novel, which deals with the life of middle-aged teacher, Lotte Bøk. At the beginning of the novel, Lotte is very contented with the life she lives. She’s a teacher at the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, and she participates actively in cultural life. She also has good relationships with her daughter and grandson. Politically, she hews to the left, she’s a member of the board of directors in nonprofit organizations, and is grateful that she has lived most of her life in a relatively peaceful and safe era.

Unease

So far, all is well in Vigdis Hjorth’s new novel. But something is about to happen ...

One of her students asks her whether she wants to participate in an art project. He wants to film the teachers both inside and outside the workplace. Lotte Bøk says yes because the teachers at the art academy are keen to accommodate their students. But even before filming gets underway, Lotte starts to see herself from the outside. And when the filming starts, her sudden unease about her own image manifests itself. The camera’s presence causes the ground to shudder under her feet so that she must fight to keep her balance, and to maintain the image of herself – that is, the self-image that existed prior to the student’s request.

When she sees the finished film portraying herself, she is shaken. She loses the power of speech, because she realizes that the language she uses is false, mannered, and verbose, and what is she to do then, a suddenly speechless teacher?

Well, she travels to Greece, where she doesn’t need words to sort donated clothes for refugees, with a tiny hope of getting her language back.

“It doesn’t sound very cheerful,” says Vigdis Hjorth. “But maybe having to find a new language for the world offers great opportunities to get a new perspective on yourself, maybe Lotte Bøk has been given a golden opportunity?”

“Realistic fiction”

As usual, when Vigdis Hjorth brings out a new book, it’s met with great interest. Her previous novel, Wills and Testaments, shook Norway’s book world and caused a ferocious furor. The genre known in Norway as “realistic fiction” got a torchbearer, and although the book is a novel containing fictional characters, it left readers in little doubt that the events in the book were drawn from the author’s own experience. Vigdis Hjorth’s sister, Helga Hjorth, came with a strong response in the novel, Fri vilje ('Free Will', not yet published in English), the year after, telling her side of the family story.

Both books were big successes in terms of sales in Norway, and Wills and Testaments has now also been dramatized for the stage.

Roman-à-clef

Vigdis Hjorth has had a long career as a writer since her debut in 1983. She has written for children, young people and adults in various genres. Over the years, she has emerged as one of Norway’s foremost contemporary writers. She has won the major literary awards in Norway and has also been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Her books have been translated into a number of languages, and have been met with keen interest in several countries.

When Wills and Testaments was launched in the UK, The Guardian asked if Vigdis Hjorth could be “the new Elena Ferrante”.

Many of Hjorth’s books have elements of a roman-à-clef. She has written about her own circumstances, about her own prison experience, and about her own experience in an inheritance dispute that also implies a story of child abuse.

How much of herself is there in The Teacher’s Song?

“The Teacher’s Song is about a teacher who, among other things, teaches about Bertholt Brecht, and she goes through a small crisis,” Hjorth says. “By the way, I have taught a lot of Brecht ...”

For more information

Cappelen Damm Agency: Vigdis Hjorth

Books from Norway: Lærerinnens sang