The Motionless Man

In many ways, Victor Abel is an invisible man. He does not attract attention to himself in the streets of Fredrikstad, he lives a quiet life as a consultant in the technical department in of the municipality, and he is single, but finds comfort and joy in his cat Sjampus.

Early one Saturday in summer, Victor Abel notices a so-called motionless man in the pedestrian street in Fredrikstad. One of those men who just stand in the street, completely still: “He stood in the middle of the pedestrian street with an unusually fixed stare, which made Abel feel X-rayed. A vague feeling of a guilty conscience surged in him, along with a stimulating curiosity, which simply made him happy. What was it that the motionless man had discovered? Why was he staring so intensely at him? Victor Abel was not a man who was accustomed to being watched. On the contrary; he often had an unpleasant feeling of not being seen.”

The encounter with the motionless man changes Victor Abel’s life. He makes the most important decision he has ever made; he wants to make a career as a motionless man. On a journey through Europe, Victor Abel – at the age of almost 60 – is finally going to be visible!

The Motionless Man is a classic Klaus Hagerup novel, full of wisdom and considerate warmth for the small people.

Acclaim for The Motionless Man:

“Hagerup has carved out his own literary genre - if you will: Darkly humorous aphorisms in the guise of novels. Melancholy reflections on not entirely successful people reaching a sort of turning point in their own lives. [...] Klaus Hagerup has created a minor classic.”
(Vårt Land)

"In some ways the novel is as expected, but in a happy sense. Hagerup's prose is as wonderingly presice and warm and melancholic as we have gottten used to."
(NRK Kultur)

"Another gently melancholic feel-good read in Klaus Hagerup's trademark style"
(Aftenposten)

First published: 2008, Aschehoug
Klaus Hagerup: Biography and bibliography