From Father
In From Father, Lene Berg examines her father’s life and fate through a collage of her own memories and factual elements such as letters, psychiatric reports, unpublished and published texts, court documents, etc. From Father thus becomes an encounter? between a living artist and a dead one, between a father and a daughter, between a woman and a man, and between contemporary Norway and the country in which Arnljot Berg lived and worked. The result is an astonishing and moving portrait of a sensitive and talented man – as well as a depiction of an unusual family.
«Shrewd novel about how we remember»
«Let me state right away that Lene Berg’s prose is wonderful. In addition to glimmering prose and clever composition, Fra far has everything one might wish for in a modern bohemian novel, in a novel of the arts, a crime novel with a twist of the humanities, one with all of Europe set as its stage.»
«Her prose is always precise and poignant, sometimes hectic, sometimes harmonic, often humorous. It is obvious that Fra far is the work of an experienced artist, and Berg demonstrates that she is just as competent with the written word as she is with a film camera. This novel is reminiscent of Annie Ernaux’ works of memory, as well as other portraits of parents, such as Peter Handke’s A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (1972).»
«Lene Berg’s polyphonic text show us how “truth” is relative, and dependent upon point of view. The fact that the novel includes an unpublished and, by all accounts, autobiographical manuscript left behind by Arnljot Berg, allows father and daughter to meet in yet another medium in this novel.»
«The search for understanding might be futile, but luckily it results in literature that is both fruitful and fascinating.»
«In From Father, Lene Berg has written a novel that transcends contradictions and that, following Arnljot Berg’s example, shows the enigmatic complexity of humanity, which contains both the capacity for complete destruction, but also love. Lene Berg never takes a moral stance on the events but deeply engages the reader and shows them a reality that doesn't add up and that cannot be fully understood. Berg’s prose is restrained and sensitive, and the linguistic collages are elegantly intertwined in a way that is reminiscent of images projected on a canvas, but where the coherence between the fragments is preserved.»
«Lene Berg’s hometown poetry from Oslo is a rare commodity. The child Berg’s perspective conjures up not only her father but an Oslo of a bygone era. [...] Lene Berg has created a layered reconstruction that evokes a number of associations. For me, it was like eating candy as a child; some pieces burned my mouth with their boozy filling, while others made a warmth spread through my body. Above all, she awakens a craving for more.»
«The book also contains a collision between the matter-of-factness of the prose and the profound emotions that are revealed. But when successfully executed, fiction can reconcile the incompatible. Is it a true portrait of the father? Yes and no, but it is authentic. In Norway, they call this type of book 'reality literature', which is probably a better term than 'autofiction'. The fact that Berg isn’t an experienced writer becomes an asset here, as she writes an unconventional novel that cannot be easily categorized.»