Martin Birck's Youth: A Novel - Couverture souple

Soderberg, Hjalmar

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1870041577 ISBN 13 : 9781870041577

Editeur : Norvik Press, 2004

Synopsis

Hjalmar Soderberg's partly autobiographical second novel was originally published in 1901, and traces the development of the hero from a seemingly idyllic Stockholm childhood to maturity as a thirty-year-old man, an introspective outsider, critical of society, constantly searching for the truth but going through a gradual process of disillusionment. He dreams of being a poet, but is too melancholic to break free from his modest bureaucratic career, and slowly drifts towards nihilism and aestheticism. Martin Birck's Youth is a book rich in fin de siecle themes - melancholy, eroticism and decadence abound. The Stockholm depicted here is a haunting city of shadows and snowstorms, suppressed passion and loneliness. The conflict between dreams and reality which occurs in so many novels of the period is central to the novel, and its preoccupation with issues of free will, determinism and morality prefigures Soderberg's next novel, the highly acclaimed Dr Glas (in which Martin Birck makes a cameo appearance).

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Hjalmar Soderberg (1869-1941) is one of Sweden's leading writers from the fin de siecle period. Perhaps best known for his elegantly crafted short stories (a selection of which has been published by Norvik Press), he was also the author of four novels, of which Martin Birck's Youth (1901) is the second. Drawing on his own childhood and early working life as a minor government official, Soderberg depicts his native Stockholm at the turn of the century from the perspective of a disillusioned outsider. Most of his works contain an underlying current of social and moral criticism, and the novels in particular caused controversy in their day with their frank exploration of sexual and moral issues. To support himself in his writing career, Soderberg worked as a journalist and literary critic. He later turned to writing philosophical and religious criticism, spending the latter part of his life in Copenhagen.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Norvik Press
• Date d'édition: 2004
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1870041577
• ISBN 13: 9781870041577
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 160
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible