Facts about Finland (Innbundet)

Author:

Erlend Loe

Norwegian title: Fakta om Finland
Author:
Binding: Innbundet
Year: 2001
Pages: 219
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Språk: Bokmål
Originaltittel: Fakta om Finland
ISBN/EAN: 9788202202217
Overview Fakta om Finland

I dream about water again. Dream that the water is on me, in me and around me, floating, dripping, and I have heard that the meaning of dreaming about water is change, and every time I dream about water I think: Damned, change again. Will it ever end?
In central Oslo lives a man that has found a way to protect his simple being against the chaos of life. Everything should be kept as safe and stagnant at possible. His profession allows him to live a slow paced life, as he produces brochures. But his dream job, a brochure made to lure Norwegian tourists to travel to Finland, with it´s almost two hundred-thousand lakes, make everything float for this man, with a - to put it mildly - anxious relation to water.
Erlend Loe was proclaimed a genius already with his first novels; Captured by the Woman, Naive. Super and L. Facts about Finland (Fakta om Finland) is characterized by the authors typical humour, but at the same time you can feel an undertow of longing and loneliness in the main character. He fears water and flow, he fears change. Facts about Finland is sovereignly language conscious, unpredictable and entertaining.
"A novel filled by real Loe-humour. With Facts about Finland, Erlend Loe has left the relatively safe shallows of the generation novel and plunged himself into deeper waters."
DAGBLADET
"A highly charming story, filled with warm humour and warm irony."
UPPSALA TIDNING, Sweden
"Facts about Finland is a existential novel filled with deep seriousness, but where elements in language and narrative wakes humour as well as reflection."
TØNSBERGS BLAD
"His latest book, Facts about Finland, also has a cult status, but here he dears new things. I think it is an interesting move in his authorship."
DAGBLADET
"Less naïve, just as super."
DAGSAVISEN

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More books by Erlend Loe:

Reviews Fakta om Finland

"En roman full av ekte Loe-humor og med en ironi som gir støtet til nye diskusjoner om hvor han egentlig står (...) Én ting kan vi imidlertid allerede her og nå og med sikkerhet slå fast: Med Fakta om Finland har Erlend Loe forlatt generasjonsromanens relativt trygge svaberg og kastet seg ut på dypere vann."

Øystein Rottem, Dagbladet

"Mindre naivt, minst like supert"

Elisabeth Solberg, Dagsavisen

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Author Erlend Loe

Erlend Loe is one of the most beloved and popular authors in Norway. He was born in 1969 in Trondheim, Norway, and studied folklore, film studies and literature at university. He made his debut with the novel Frankly, my dear (Tatt av kvinnen) in 1993, for which he received raving reviews. In 1996 came Naiv. Super, his big break through in Norway and internationally. It has been called the novel of his generation. His novel Doppler, which came out in 2004, has been critically acclaimed for it's depiction of the modern man, and The Guardian named it 'Book of the Year'. He is a productive author, and writes books both for adults and children. His books about Kurt have been a huge success, and have also been turned into an animated film. The books have been published in thirty-nine countries so far.

He lives in Oslo and enjoys biking.
Awards:

  • 1996 Ministry of Cultural Affairs Prize for Den store røde hunden (The Big Red Dog), children's picture book, Illustrated by Kim Hiorthøy.
  • 1997 The Cappelen Award
  • 1998 The Critics Prize for Kurt Quo Vadis?, illustrated children’s novel, children’s book.
  • 1999 The Bookseller Award for L (L).
  • 2006 The French Prix Européen des Jeunes Lecteurs for Naiv.Super. (Naïve.Super.).
  • 2006 The French Tam-tam Prize for Fisken (The Fish), children’s book.
  • 2010 De Grote Jongerenliteratuur Prijs (the Netherlands) for Muleum (Muleum)
  • 2013 The Aschehoug Award
  • 2016 the Liv Ullman Prize
  • 2022 BolognaRagazzi Award - COMICS Early Reader - for Hvem rumpet brunosten? (Who buttocked the brown cheese?)

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Foreign rights
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
Italy
Latvia
Russia
Sweden
Ukraine

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