Torgny Lindgren Book order

The recipes for Swedish hash, a dish celebrated in remote northern villages for its taste and restorative qualities, vary greatly. The ingredients—meats, offal, and grains—can be obscure or even dangerous, leading to results that are both emetic and sublime. The quest for the ultimate hash drives this darkly comic novel by one of Sweden's esteemed authors. In a small town plagued by tuberculosis, two contrasting men arrive amidst the suffering, which locals accept with an unusual glee. Robert Maser, a traveling garment salesman, is actually the fugitive Martin Bormann, the Nazi leader rumored to have escaped during Berlin's fall. He teams up with Lars, a local schoolteacher, on a peculiar mission to find the world's best hash, wandering the countryside and sampling humble family recipes. As their search intensifies, it becomes evident that they seek more than just culinary excellence; they are searching for the essence of life that persists even in dire circumstances. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of a 107-year-old newspaper reporter who witnessed these events in 1947. He reflects on his relationship with life and death, happiness and suffering, while exploring the power of art to convey life's complexities.

From Complicite and directed by Simon McBurney, a play about survival, sickness and humanity. schovat popis

A forgery is a copy that is fraudulently passed off as the original. True or false? Lindgren's forger "simply creates freedom. Freedom from certainties and markets and the authorities. What are called forgeries," he says, "are the only true expression of our age." Marklund the picture-framer sinks all his savings into a Madonna by Dardel, the Swedish artist's masterwork. Suddenly the picture makes a duplicate appearance, in the studio of the man with the goatee beard; and the tax authorities confiscate the original; and the sitter's son turns up asserting it is stolen property; and Marklund's ex-girlfriend claims a half-share. Marklund's childhood friend Ingela, meanwhile, has learnt to sing and is taken up by an impresario who launches her career as Paula, Sweden's biggest name in pop. But is she too a forgery - if not in the eyes of her plastic-surgeon lover, then in those of the press who "created" her? Recounting this burlesque adventure of the two young innocents at odds with contemporary values, Torgny Lindgren has once again achieved a perfect tale for our times, ironic, profound, many-layered and utterly enjoyable.