Out of the Fire (Innbundet)

Author:

Ingvar Ambjørnsen

Norwegian title: Ut av ilden
Author:
Binding: Innbundet
Year: 2014
Pages: 360
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Språk: Bokmål
ISBN/EAN: 9788202438715
Overview Ut av ilden

The protagonist in Ambjørnsen's new novel is Alexander Irgens, Norway's king of crime, who has a large part of the international crime fiction audience falling at his feet with his series about Stig Hammer.

His seventh novel, Høye mørke menn, is launched in grand style at the literature festival in Lillehammer, where the great Author is coddled by a female-dominated industry that just wants to interview and feed him. Irgens is married with a son, but he's in Lillehammer with his mistress, Vilde, a volatile woman who thinks both he and his violent crime writing receive a ridiculous amount of attention. Whereas most people flatter and fuss over him, she's only too willing to hit where it hurts when he oversteps the mark.

Ut av ilden is an exciting and enjoyable portrayal of thepublishing industry which addresses the increasing brutality required to satiate an audience. But fundamentally it is a novel about shame and an author who knows his life has taken a downward turn and that he has not been true to himself.

‘What starts as relatively harmless ridicule becomes sharp criticism with a shocking sting of an ending. … Ingvar Ambjørnsen has put his heart into the details – into the lovely little everyday considerations and a wealth of succinct dialogue.’
NRK P2

‘Sharp, poetic and entertaining. An impressive balancing act from an author in a similar situation. … It is the mix of social criticism and existential seriousness which give this novel sense of gravity and literary power. Here Ingvar Ambjørnsen shows his prowess as an author.’
Dagsavisen

‘The puzzle that is Alexander Irgens is laid out, and in this regard, Ut av ilden is a riveting, disturbing, unpleasant yet great novel. … The nostalgic imagery conjured by Irgens’ narrative voice is something few do more beautifully or effortlessly than Ambjørnsen. …when it comes to writing chilling descriptions of people – the good and the bad – and their unpredictable actions, Ambjørnsen is still a master.’
Aftenposten

Ut av ilden is not just a thoroughly entertaining novel about our own literary circus tent, it is also a story about a man – coincidentally, a successful author – who is intoxicated and blinded by his own greatness, and who is deceitful and weak-minded when it comes to those around him. This picture of “the author as a stupid man” is both pointed and cutting – Ambjørnsen makes poetry of bombastic pathos when necessary.’
Bergens Tidende

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More books by Ingvar Ambjørnsen:

Reviews Ut av ilden

Utsøkt oppgjør

"Romanen er et utsøkt og til tider morsomt oppgjør med en forlagsbransje hekta på krim og forfattere som lar seg drive med i ekstatisk jakt på nysalgssuksess."

 
Guri Hjulstad, Trønder-Avisa

Geip og alvor frå ein meister

(...)ein tankevekkande roman om ein forfattar som går på akkord med seg sjølv – som vel ein velfylt bankkonto framfor å utvikle sitt store, litterære talent. Dessutan imponerer forfattaren med naturskildringar som ingen annan nolevande norsk forfattar når opp til."

 
Bjarne Tveiten, Fædrelandsvennen

Spenstig kritikk

"Ingvar Ambjørnsen er på sitt spenstigste og mest underholdende i sin velpoengterte avdekking av knep og grep for å selge krimlitteratur."

Geir Vestad, Hamar Arbeiderblad

"Det som begynner som relativt ufarlig harselas strammer seg til besk kritikk med en sjokkerende svir av en slutt.(...) Ja, Ingvar Ambjørnsen legger hjertet sitt i detaljene, tenker jeg, i de nydelige små hverdagsbetraktningene og de mange fyndige dialogene."

Anne-Cathrine Straume, NRK P2

"Det er blitt både beskt, poetisk og svært underholdende. En imponerende balansegang av en forfatter som sitter midt i det samme fatet.(...) Nettopp denne blandingen av samfunnskritikk og eksistensielt alvor gir denne romanen tyngde og litterær kraft. Her viser Ingvar Ambjørnsen hvilken fin forfatter han er.

Turid Larsen, Dagsavisen

"Puslespillet Alexander Irgens legges, og her er Ut av ilden en medrivende, forstyrrende, ubehagelig og flott roman.(...) De nostalgiske bildene som tegnes via Irgens fortellerstemme, er det få som gjør vakrere og enklere enn Ambjørnsen.(...)når det kommer til gåsehudfremkallende beskrivelser av mennesker - fæle som fine - og deres uforutsigbare handlinger er Ambjørnsen fremdeles en mester."

Asbjørn Slettemark, Aftenposten

Herlig raljering

"Ut av ilden er ikke bare en gjennomført underholdende roman om vår egen litterære sirkusmanesje, det er også en historie om en mann - tilfeldigvis en suksessrik forfatter - som er beruset og blind av sin egen storhet, som er svikefull og unnfallen overfor dem som står ham nær. Dette bildet av «forfatteren som dum mann» er både poengtert og skarpt - Ambjørnsen gjør svulstig patos om til poesi når det trengs."

Lars Helge Nilsen, Bergens Tidende

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Author Ingvar Ambjørnsen

Ingvar Ambjørnsen (b. 1956) is considered to be one of the great storytellers of contemporary Norwegian literature. Since his literary début in 1981, Ambjørnsen has written a great number of novels, collections of short stories as well as essay collections, and several books for children and young readers.

Over the span of his career, he has won numerous awards, including the Riverton Prize, the Brage Prize for Best Fiction, the Norwegian Booksellers’ Award and the Aschehoug Prize. Ingvar Ambjørnsen has been published in 30 countries. Several of his novels have successful films and theatre adaptions. The movie Elling, based on Ambjørnsen’s novels The Chicken Dance and Beyond the Great Indoors, was nominated to an Oscar in 2001. - The play Elling has appeared on stage in theatres around Europe to great acclaim.

Ambjørnsen’s books are often characterized by powerful, realistic descriptions of the seamier side of life. The protagonists tend to be outsiders – described with sympathetic insight and warmth. Loneliness and friendship are expressed in a concise literary style. His break-through novel from 1986, White Trash (Hvite niggere), is an excellent example of this. It is a crass exposure of the plight of that unfortunate soul seeking out an existence in sub-cultures.

Still, most readers will know Ambjørnsen’s work through a quartet of novels about the odd-ball Elling. A Vision of Paradise (Utsikt til paradiset) from 1993, The Chicken Dance (Fugledansen) from 1995, Beyond the Great Indoors (Brødre i blodet) from 1996 and Love Me Tomorrow (Elsk meg i morgen) from 1999 established Ambjørnsen as one of the most widely read Norwegian authors in the past few decades, with over half a million copies in print. Elling also made a popular come back with the books Echo of a Friend (Ekko av en venn) in 2019 and Yoko Ono is a Charlatan (Yoko Ono er en sjarlatan) in 2020.

Ambjørnsen introduced something entirely new with his books about Elling. The books contain less external plot, but proportionately more crazy inventiveness and absurd, gentle humour. The novels depict the loneliness of their protagonist – and the dream of friendship and romantic love. The books are entertaining, thought-provoking reads. Some reviewers has called Elling “the Norwegian Forest Gump”.

Awards
The Cappelen Prize 1988.
The City of Hamburg Grant.
The City of Lübeck Grant.
The best book for Young Readers of the 1980's for Death in Oslo Central Station (Døden på Oslo S) 1991.
The Brage Prize 1995 for The Bird Dance (Fugledansen).
The Booksellers' Prize 1996 for Beyond the Great Indoors (Brødre i blodet).
Oslo City Cultural Prize 2001.
Anders Jahre's Cultural Prize 2004.
The Salvation Army's Booth Prize 2004.
The Willy Brandt-Prize 2012.
The Aschehoug Prize 2023.
The Honorary Brage Prize 2023.

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Foreign rights
Germany
Turkey

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