AshehougAgency

Zoochosis

There has been a war, or an environmental disaster, and life must go on. Through thirteen dystopian tales we are offered a portrait of a city which has all but stopped functioning, with citizens tormented by delusions as to what life should consist of. Some have given up, some long to get away, others take to the streets to fight it out.

We meet a tired professor who communicates with his dead wife through video clips. We meet a nurse who listens for heartbeats in an elderly lady and instead hears a cello. We meet Death itself, and we get to read a letter to a superhero. And all the while, the animals in the city zoo press against the bars of their cages, buildings and infrastructure is rusting away and apocalypse lurks around the corner.

Praise for ZOOCHOSIS:

”… sensuous, atmospheric reports from an urban post civilization – [the same characters wander] in and out of different texts, making the work a cycle of tales where the stories shed light on each other. Rune Salvesen has written a book with a tone of its own.”
(Aftenbladet)

First published: 2009, Aschehoug
Rune Salvesen: Biography and bibliography