The Meal at Bocca
Kiøsterud, Erland: Måltidet i Bocca"The last thing I remembered was sitting on a bench in the park watching the world disappear."
With these words Nicolay Lyche, narrator and main character in this novel, begins his story. He finds himself in a deep crisis, feeling he exists apart from the world, in a silence he is unable to penetrate. Little by little it dawns on him that this crisis might be connected to his latest project; the attempt to write the story of his wife, Sarah, who is Jewish. At the same time he feels that his choice to break away from his family to dedicate himself to art, has points in common with the social break-up that Sarah only barely survived. The novel raises questions about how we justify our existence after the genocide during the second World War, at the same time, art and the role of the artist are being critically scrutinised. Nicolay is confronted by the disturbing question: What if the artist himself is a molester?
Praise for The Meal at Bocca:
"Well-written novel about awakening and self-confrontation, but also about defeat and loss "
(Aftenposten)
"Yet again Kiøsterud has given us a novel which grabs your attention through the richness of its ideas and its artistic seriousness"
(Dagbladet)
"Kiøsterud’s language sparkles and he tackles the eternal questions brilliantly. This book deserves to have a wide, wide readership"
(Morgenbladet)
"This is a deeply serious book. Like Bjørneboe, Kiøsterud circles about the problem of evil. Evil versus the longing for beauty and truth that can be the basis for art ... Erland Kiøsterud’s language is poetic and filled with imagery"
(Drammens Tidende)
Click here for German sample translation.
First published: 2002, Forlaget Oktober
Erland Kiøsterud: Biography and bibliography
