Where: The Norwegian Seamen’s Church, 317 East 52nd Street (betw. 1st & 2nd Aves.), New York, NY<\/p>\n
Meet the Norwegian author Jan Kj\u00e6rstad at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church as he presents his latest novel published in the United States, “The Conqueror”. The event takes place on Tuesday April 28, 7:30 pm.<\/p>\n
Kj\u00e6rstad is one of Scandinavia\u2019s most prominent contemporary authors. He made his debut in 1980 with a collection of short stories titled, \u201cThe Earth Turns Quietly.\u201d Over the years, he has written a number of novels, short stories, and essays and received numerous prizes. He was awarded the Norwegian Literary Critics Association\u2019s Prize in 1984 for \u201cHomo Falsus\u201d (\u201cThe Perfect Murder\u201d). Kj\u00e6rstad was also honored with the prestigious Henrik Steffens Prize in 1998, given to Scandinavians who have significantly enriched Europe’s artistic and intellectual life. In 2001, he won the Nordic Council\u2019s Prize for Literature for \u201cThe Discoverer,\u201d the last book in the Wergeland trilogy, which will be published in the United States in 2009.<\/p>\n
“The Conqueror”
\nEven though life is lived forward, it is always understood backward. You turn around and behold \u2013 in awe or fear \u2013 a pattern that you are not aware of having made,\u201d Jan Kj\u00e6rstad offers in his latest novel published in the United States, \u201cThe Conqueror.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonas Wergeland is in prison for the murder of his wife \u2013 a beloved and celebrated television personality in Norway. Wergeland\u2019s programs on the history of Norway hold the country in his thrall. A professor is hired to write the definitive biography of Wergeland, but finds himself unable to process the astonishing volume of contradictory information he unearths \u2013 until a mysterious woman appears on his doorstep. Possessing innumerable intimate stories about Jonas, the woman details the dark side of his rise to prominence, and through her stories tries to explain what made him a murderer.<\/p>\n
Kj\u00e6rstad\u2019s latest novel offers a compelling story as well as insight into Norwegian cultural life during the past 50 years. With a series of references to historical characters and events, the novel serves as an introduction to contemporary Norwegian society. The rise of the welfare state and emergence of the mediated society are the backdrop to which this story is told. Although the novel plays on Norwegian cultural life, it remains appealing to a wider audience through its reflections on universal themes. <\/p>\n
Combining the fictional with facts Kj\u00e6rstad invites the reader to reflect upon the art of storytelling itself and consider all the elements that makes up a story. Fact, fiction, coherence, and contradiction melt together in a series of short, seemingly unordered chapters. This gives the narrative a form that reinforces the questioning and curiosity toward the given that is displayed throughout the novel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Conqueror\u201d is the second book in the trilogy about Jonas Wergeland that consists of \u201cThe Seducer,\u201d \u201cThe Conqueror,\u201d and \u201cThe Discoverer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Where: The Norwegian Seamen’s Church, 317 East 52nd Street (betw. 1st & 2nd Aves.), New York, NY Meet the Norwegian author Jan Kj\u00e6rstad at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church as he presents his latest novel published in the United States, “The Conqueror”. The event takes place on Tuesday April 28, 7:30 pm. Kj\u00e6rstad is one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67486],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353086,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270496\/revisions\/353086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}