New Swedish Books, autumn 2020 1
43 Autumn 2020 The Hunters in Armentières The jur
y: Regardless of its weighty subject matter, a book that’s infused with a sense of freedom and grace. In The Hunters in Armentières Steve SemSandberg collects four stories of varying length, all of them written whilst he worked on his acclaimed novel W (where he used the same true story that inspired Georg Büchner’s famous play Woyzeck). Here themes present in both Büchner and his literary circle’s work are employed. The final short story, ‘Oberlin’, is an adaption of Büchner’s novella Lenz, that describes the older playwright’s mental breakdown in January 1778 in a secluded village in the mountains of Alsace. The overall theme is the individual’s longing for freedom, respect and self-value when confronted with an antiquated social hierarchy’s demands for obedience and submission. A conflict where, often, the only way out is through violence or insanity. Steve Sem-Sandberg Stories, 149 p. Steve Sem-Sandberg Publisher Albert Bonniers Förlag Rights Nordin Agency Joakim Hansson, Signe Lundgren joakim@nordinagency.se, signe@nordinagency.se Photo: Stefan Tell