Shyness and Dignity

"Dag holds in his generation (born in 1941) both a very similar and a totally different position than that Hamsun did in his. Dag is and has been the uncrowned and undisputed leader of the ivory tower since his debut in the late 1960s, whereas Hamsun was always a loner. Dag is the sole contemporary writer that we all (nearly, I know of two who don’t comply) must read when he publishes a new book. Mainly because he has turned the language around again, given it the first new twist since Hamsun left us. Yes, it’s a lament. Everything Dag puts his hands on turns out in some way or another to be a lament. You see—as a devoted communist—history isn’t developing to his liking. And you are absolutely right to ask if it is satire. Because it is actually both—both satire and not. Dag can make that possible. He denies categorically (in interviews) the fact (my view) that he is ironic, and is thereby creating a third layer in his writing—from irony back to truth. And I mean—if you constantly create main characters that are lamenting that most people around them are idiots, the project could easily turn into an elitist nightmare. But with self-loathing and self-irony you can get away with everything. He does it in the most beautiful fashion possible. And after all, who doesn’t—at least once in a while—think of themselves as smarter than the others? Dag is a true intellectual, and has a lot of references to previous heroes, and he has probably spent more time with Ibsen then with anyone else—both in this novel and in four others, as I recall. Ibsen is even more important to him than Hamsun (whom he also appreciates), and in a quite complex way—Ibsen bothers him, like every father figure and national icon should. He is struggling with Ibsen, moving about like a roller coaster between respect and criticism, admiration and irritation. In spite of his really strong political opinions he rather seems to avoid making too direct references to them in his literature. He is no propagandist, it’s more like he’s dancing around his own views, pulling them into a tango, or—more bluntly—taking a negative stance, that is, mocking the opposite views and especially the lifestyle and habits that he does not share himself. A satirist, but also, to a certain degree, a thinker undermining and ridiculing his leftist opinions. He is always an interesting and complex writer. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . He is mostly working with contemporary stuff, but he has a keen eye for history, has written a bunch of articles about a lot of historical subjects, and has also published a trilogy set in World War II , during the occupation of Norway."