Literature and Fiction2026 · 128 pp
Pig
Peter Franziskus Strassegger
Pig is a terse and vividly alive rural tale.On one side of the river lives the tomato farmer. His family has been condemned and humiliated ever since the war.On the other side of the river lives the wealthy farmer, Mauland.The tomato farmer’s wife has crossed the river and had a child with the wealthy farmer, while the son, Patrik, is left behind in the summer of puberty.One night, Patrik crosses the bridge and opens the door to the pigsty.
Pig is a Greek drama set to the Western coast of present time Norway, about humiliation, betrayal, love, fall and revenge. The language is dense and poetic, the thoughts can go to the darkest stories from the Old Testament, inspired by the style of Agota Kristof and John Steinbeck.
"Reading Pig is almost like an archaeological excavation. As a reader, you have to uncover layer upon layer of symbolism, but what you are left with is well worth the effort (...) Strassegger has a true mastery of language (...) Although the plot contains a great deal of symbolism and mystery, the language is easily accessible, yet at the same time perfect for the tone the novel sets.”Stavanger Aftenblad
"A novel for the discerning and language-conscious reader (...) Pig is a novel that attempts to grasp the ungraspable, while that very pursuit becomes the essence of the text (...) his books, alongside their stylistic merits, are characterized by profound psychological insight, particularly into the adolescent mind.»Dag og Tid
"Pig is a novel that stands firmly on its own terms (...) For such a short text, it carries considerable weight, without the dark engulfing the light (...) At times, my thoughts wander to Tarjei Vesaas' Mattis in The Birds (Fuglane)."Klassekampen
