New Swedish Books. Autumn 2016 1
AUTUMN 2016 The Oblique Place The novel The Obliq
ue Place was Caterina Pascual Söderbaum’s (1962-2015) last novel. She was born in Catalonia and moved to Sweden when she was twenty, but frequently returned to Catalonia. The Warped Place is a big novel in many ways. It’s the tale of a family, following several generations during the 20th Century. Lively, Caterina Pascual Söderbaum THE OBLIQUE PLACE Albert Bonniers Förlag Rights: Bonnier Rights dramatic and with copious narrative riches, she leads the reader through Spain’s history, with its civil war, dictatorship and liberation. History, both the major events and the minor, has to do with the lives of people: it’s people who bring about misery as well as joy. In The Oblique Place, they emerge in the form of an extended family, with dreams, life, flaws and transcendence, in questions of guilt and responsibility, good and evil – the questions we ourselves encounter, the people we come across in these lives we are given. “ History, both the major events and the minor, has to do with the lives of people: it’s people who bring about misery as well as joy.” 17 Photo: Steve Sem-Sandberg