Swedish Contemporary Fiction 1
Agnes Lidbeck (b. 1981) Agnes Lidbeck grew up in
an artistic family and understood early on what it can cost families to live with people in creative occupations. That’s why she decided to get an office job and live as ordinary a life as possible. But after a few years as an environmental analyst, she was unable to resist writing. She made her literary debut in 2017 with the novel Supporting Act (‘Finna sig’), which was well received. She quickly followed that with a volume of poetry entitled From (‘Ur’, 2018) and two more novels: The Rift (‘Förlåten’, 2018) and At a Loss (‘Gå förlorad’, 2019). Nikky’s Book 740 p. 2021, Norstedts Rights: Norstedts Agency Disaster. It all begins with absolute disaster. Three young families, their backgrounds vastly different. Some of them pretty and poised. Others fiercely ambitious and unable to hide their fangs. Still, they are bound together, a bond that grows into love, a love rooted in that first disaster. At a Loss 250 p. 2019, Norstedts Rights: Norstedts Agency The small truths and the big The small truths and the big lies in our lives, the difference between our aspirations and our potentials, the explosive nature of our emotional reactions and our rational explanations for why we couldn’t achieve more. Supporting Act 194 p. 2017, Norstedts Rights: Norstedts Agency Agnes Lidbeck investigates voluntary submission, away from the context of sexual domination. It is a thorough examination of modern womanhood, as well as an in-depth portrait of Anna as mother, lover and carer. Lidbeck’s nakedly personal poems address the themes of origin and inheritance: the death of a father, becoming a mother, the fear of mental illness and the path of becoming a writer. She does not attempt anything radically new in her poems, choosing to combine elements from a central lyric tradition with contemporary narrative poetry. From also contains intriguing elements of mysticism, which are absent in her novels. Instead, her severe, coolly analytical novels revolve around recognisable close relationships. She makes an effort to break down and complicate the usual clichés. Lidbeck has described her novels – about a mother, two siblings and a father – as a way of investigating the family as a phenomenon and forgiveness as a humane act. Lidbeck writes about spiky, sometimes downright unsympathetic people to test the boundaries of our humanity. Can we understand and forgive her characters if we don’t find them likable or sympathetic? In her novel Nikky’s Book (‘Nikes bok’, 2021) – the first in a planned series – Agnes Lidbeck shifts her focus; her style is now warmer and more dynamic. Her severe, analytical gaze has softened. The story starts in the 1980s in the sleepy fictional fishing community of Kummelvik on Sweden’s south-east coast. Life goes on as it always has done, until an artist’s family moves to the village. After a dramatic day at the seaside, three families’ lives become permanently entwined. The narrative follows their lives in the fishing village for 40 years. Lidbeck has created a story with such inner warmth and psychological insight that the reader is sad to leave little Kummelvik. Yukiko Duke Rights sold to: 4 countries Swedish Contemporary Fiction 12 Foto: Elvira Glänte