THE TEACHER’’S SONG (Innbundet)

Author:

Vigdis Hjorth

Norwegian title: Lærerinnens sang
Author:
Binding: Innbundet
Year: 2018
Pages: 240
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Språk: Bokmål
ISBN/EAN: 9788202600785
Overview Lærerinnens sang

Lotte Bøk teaches at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She is passionate about Brecht, whose work she describes with great empathy to her drama students. One day senior student Tage Bast asks to film some of the teachers at work, but also outside of the academy. He wants to visit them at home to find out whether there is any correlation between their lives and their teaching.
What happens when you feel terribly exposed? When you see yourself through someone else's merciless gaze? The Teacher's Song is a novel about self- understanding being challenged.

Excerpt from The Teacher's Song: On 10 April 2016, Lotte Bøk left her old house by the Aker River and went to work at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, not knowing how her life would change over the next few weeks due to what others might consider chance. She walked down Blåmanngata, the sun high in the blue April sky. She was wearing overalls, a choice some people might think was (overly) brave for a woman of 57. But she bore her age well. She was light on her feet and sound of body, something she thought had to be more important than whether there were any lines on her forehead.

So The teacher’s song is never a meta-novel about writing, but a pertinent tale about self-examination and change for Lotte Bøk, the reader and the author herself; about inspecting the relationship between theory and practice before the mirror of the individual’s life. All this in commendably clear language and a consistently controlled plot, and with a protagonist in the process of approaching ‘integrity in what she expresses’.
STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

Vigdis Hjort shines in her examination of the relationship between thought and action. The teacher’s song is honed on the present, it discusses what is happening in the world now, but maintains a literary ambiguity that makes it possible to consider the course of the novel in many different ways. She does not lock up the story with ideas but opens them to further complexity.
VÅRT LAND

… Hjorth is one of our best, most interesting contemporary writers – always intellectually curious and seductive, always tremendously eloquent and, not least, always brave.
DAGBLADET

An ambiguous novel with subtle humour
In the ongoing war between art and reality, Vigdis Hjort offers a witty and mildly satirical novel.
BERGENS TIDENDE

A brilliant little novel (…) Vigdis Hjorth at her best.
VG

It doesn’t just deal with art and private life but also with art and political life, and the ethical discussion is both tolerant and nuanced.
KLASSEKAMPEN

Her writing is at once compelling and analytical. She raises her gaze from the intimately private to the global (…) it is unsettling and still it is commendable.
TARA

This book is for you if: you’re interested in what happens when experience becomes art and if you like thinking when you read novels.
NRK

In The teacher’s song, the topic is relevant, the language playful and original.
DAG OG TID

A great little novel (…) it picks away at language, at habitual thinking, discusses how far art, philosophy, ideology can truly show the way in life.
DAGSAVISEN

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More books by Vigdis Hjorth:

Reviews Lærerinnens sang

«Lærerinnens sang» blir derfor aldri noen metaroman om diktning, men en vedkommende fortelling til selvinspeksjon og endring for både Lotte Bøk, leseren og forfatteren selv, til inspeksjon av forholdet mellom teori og praksis foran speilet i den enkeltes liv. Alt sammen i et forbilledlig tydelig språk og gjennomkontrollert plot, med en hovedperson i ferd med å nærme seg «helheten i det hun uttrykker».

 
Jan Askelund, Stavanger Aftenblad

«…Hjorth er en våre beste, mest interessante samtidsforfattere – alltid intellektuelt forskende og forførende, alltid uhyre velformulert, og ikke minst, alltid modig.»

 
Maya Troberg Djuve, Dagbladet

Tvetydig roman med underfundig humor

"I den pågående krigen mellom kunst og virkelighet bidrar Vigdis Hjorth med en vittig og lett satirisk roman"

 
Gro Jørstad Nilsen, Bergens Tidende

« en strålende liten roman (...) Vigdis Hjorth av beste merke»

 
Guri Hjeltnes, VG

"Hun skriver medrivende og samtidig analytisk, hun løfter blikket fra det nære private til det globale (...) Det er ubehagelig, og det er stadig prisverdig"

 
Anne Schäffer, Tara

«Vigdis Hjorth briljerer i sin undersøkelse av forholdet mellom tanke og handling."
"Lærerinnens sang er spisset mot en samtid, den diskuterer det som skjer i verden nå, men opprettholder en litterær tvetydighet som gjør at romanens forløp kan tenkes på mange forskjellige måter. Hun låser ikke fortellingen med ideer, men ­åpner dem for ytterligere kompleksitet."

Kjetil Røed, Vårt Land

«Handlar ikkje berre om kunsten og privatlivet, men også om kunsten og det politiske livet, og den etiske diskusjonen er både vidsynt og fasettert."

Eivind Myklebust, Klassekampen

«Passar for deg som interesserer deg for kva som skjer når erfaringar blir til kunst og som likar å tenkje mens du les romanar .»

Marta Norheim, NRK

« en fin liten roman(...) Den pirker i språket, i vanetanken, diskuterer hvorvidt kunsten, filosofien, ideologien virkelig kan vise vei i livet.»

Gerd Elin Stava Sandve, Dagsavisen

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Author Vigdis Hjorth

Vigdis Hjorth (1959–) has made an exciting literary career and has written many popular books for both children and adults. Today she is an awardwinning author and one of Norway's most interesting, contemporary writers.

She has won a number of prizes and awards, amongst them: The Gyldendal Prize in 2011, the Critics Award in 2012, The Honorary Brage Award and the Amalie Skram Award in 2014, The Aschehoug Award in 2015 and the Booksellers Prize in 2016.

Her books have been published in 30 countries.

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Foreign rights
Denmark
Hungary
Poland
Russia
Sweden

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