Imagine
Fossum, Marita: Forestill deg Winner of the 2005 Brage Prize for Best Norwegian Novel“I love my mother the way I love the sun, the earth and all the other heavenly bodies. I don’t know when it began, but I know I never stop doing it, mother is in everything, I think all by myself and without being influenced by alcohol or other stimulants.”
Imagine is a poetic and existential novel that draws a peculiar portrait of a woman. The narrator, fifty-five-year-old Søs, reaches a critical time in her life when trouble at work coincides with her mother’s death. The novel portrays a warm and beautiful relationship between mother and daughter, and embraces issues like withdrawal, loss, guilt and taking responsibility for one’s own life.
Praise for Imagine:
“Marita Fossum has written a small novel of great depth. With linguistic precision and existential seriousness she draws an original portrait of a woman. The book balances between the humoristic and the tragic, and the author presents her material with insight and empathy. With Imagine Fossum proves that she is an exquisite stylist”
(The jury’s grounds for the Brage Prize nomination)
”The book isn’t large, but it leaves its mark”
(NRK)
“Powerful and precise… A distinct and condensed portrayal of an individual whose existence derails… This little novel is a tight and strong story, and Fossum impresses”
(Adresseavisen)
“Fossum’s force is that she can tell a story filled with critical existential discussions in a balanced and gentle language”
(Aftenposten)
Click here for English sample translation
First published: 2005, Forlaget Oktober
Marita Fossum: Biography and bibliography
Rights sold to
| Language | Foreign publisher |
|---|---|
| Lithuanian | Vaga Publishers |
