Literature and Fiction · Hardback

The Absence

Norwegian title: Det fraværende

Susanne Mørk

Every day we live is as fateful as it is destined. Anything can happen. In The Absence people meet people, often in an unusual way. People with unclear desires. People who don't really understand themselves. Who follow after one another. People who disappear. People who never leave. People left behind, without closure.

It's as if there is a curse upon us as we read. Often, the author folds the lives of their characters together, like freshly laundered clothes, and the perception of time changes, as does truth, meaning, and all those things. They are understood as folded, rather than chronological. The stories in The Absence confirm that we live tragic lives, which we don't really have control over - but it doesn't make us condemned creatures.