AshehougAgency

Plain View

Artist Sara Klingmot is determined to walk herself well at the Hardanger mountain plains in Norway. She has an undiagnosed vision impairment she calls "height sliding". People she meet tend to look taller than they really are; they slide, just like the characters on her canvas. The flat, monotonous landscape of the mountain plains will be good for the optic nerve, according to eye specialist (and poet) dr. J. Mallang. Sara has some intense visions that both fascinate and scare her. Her daughter Mona, recently expelled from secondary school because of bullying, accompanies her on the trip - and is in the way of her mother's creativity and ability to lose her vision impairment.

The novel also contains Erik Engebretsen's short story "The Cone Test" and J. Mallang's collection of poems, Section from a Waterfall Surprised by the Cold.

Praise for Plain View:

"Eirik Ingebrigtsen writes immensely well. In addition, Plain View is an original story. (...) Since his literary debut in 2001, Ingebrigtsen has proven himself to be a precise and talented voice, and Plain View is not a disgrace to his literary work. Ingebrigtsen writes stories that are different in an easygoing way. (...) Nothing is feigned or clumsily done, his prose is both sensuous and humorously dry. (...) Plain View is a conglomerate demonstrating Ingebrigtsen's strength as a stylist. (...) Plain View is a book to become thrilled at. The story is original and gives me unexpected side effects. I'm seduced by the language and the writer's eye - and I really feel like going hiking in the mountains."
(Dag og Tid)

“A screwy story about the hunt for sight, which quivers with knowledge. ... It is both crafty and nonstandard…The language crackles and creaks, the book has an abundance of great formulations.”

(Klassekampen)

“A very interesting novel about the phenomenology of sight… Eirik Ingebrigtsen delivers an intellectual, challenging, and rewarding novel…. Plain View is a sensual novel which specifically problematizes the use of senses.

(Adresseavisen)

First published: 2009, Oktober
Eirik Ingebrigtsen: Biography and bibliography