AshehougAgency

All Access

In addition to his novels, Odd Surén has also had numerous collections of short stories published. And as before, the five short stories in All Access deal with slightly paranoid men who study themselves through the eyes of others.

There is an autobiographic short story, in which the author sleepwalks after a garden party at a certain publishing house. When he wakes up in the park by the Royal Palace, he is not wearing his shoes, and he cannot remember how he has lost them. We are also introduced to a man who shamefully is trying to establish a new life in a local community after having served a sentence, and the paranoid takes a social realistic turn.

In the five short stories that constitute All Access, Odd W. Surén writes with mild gravity and black humour about each individual’s conscious and subconscious strategies when interacting with society. What do we do to be accepted? What do we do to convince the world that it doesn’t matter to us if we are acknowledged or not?

”Shy of Kjell Askildsen, Odd W. Surén appears with increasing clarity as the Norwegian master of short stories.”
(Hamar Arbeiderblad)

”Why not just say it straight, without reservation: This is wonderful, Surén!”
(Dagsavisen)

”There is a comical potential in these neurotic men who cannot handle the small challenges of life, and Surén is a master at making the most of this comical potential”
(NRK News)

”Unlike other authors, Odd W. Surén doesn’t write some good books. He writes only good books”
(Dag og Tid)

”Sovereign Surén. In these five short stories, Surén has found a note that sustains all the way to the last page.”
(Stavanger Aftenblad)

”What might appear at first as narcissistic scribblings, holds a great wisdom, severity and humour, even if it is of the black kind.”
(Tara)

”With humour and irony, melancholy and a lot of warmth, Surén creates elegant short stories with zing.”
(Adresseavisen

”Step right into Odd W. Surén’s short story collection, and read the one called Slow Luck. You will be a Surén-fan instantly!”
(Oppland Arbeiderblad)

”When Odd Surén writes, he invites the reader intimately and heartily into the text. The language is close to what one would have thought, and as a reader you feel like a participant.”
(Vårt Land)

First published: 2007, Aschehoug
Odd W. Surén: Biography and bibliography