New Swedish Books, Autumn 2018 1
77 Autumn 2018 The End The post-apocalyptic story
isolates and identifies problems in our society. In its purest form it may uncover and reveal fundamental societal and cultural relationships. Mats Strandberg’s approach, however, is even more radical. Instead of setting his story within a post-apocalyptic community, its time and place is the apocalypse itself. An asteroid is about to collide with Earth. There’s no hope. In four weeks it will all be gone. Through Simon and Lucinda’s narratives, partly related as messages from a dying planet, a story unfolds of how, in the face of this inescapable fact, the lives of a group of young people begin to fall apart and are restored. At the end of time no one bothers with irrelevant stuff, only meaningful friendship has any value, holds any truth. Strandberg evokes a sublime apocalypse with razor-sharp and blinding consequences. Mats Strandberg (b. 1976) The End Publisher Rabén & Sjögren www.rabensjogren.se Rights Grand Agency Lena Stjernström lena@grandagency.se Selected Works Monstret i natten 2016 Färjan 2015 Cirkeln (with Sara Bergmark Elfgren) 2011 Photo: Henric Lindstén