Encirclement

Winner of the EU Prize for Literature 2009
Winner of the Critics' Prize 2007
Winner of the Brage Prize 2007
Nominated for the Nordic Councils Award 2008

ENCIRCLEMENT is a novel that covers a broad and deep spectrum, both psychologically and sociologically. The novel is cleverly composed – it changes easily between different narrators and points of view, present and now, and it uses letter form, dialogue and inner monologue.

David can not remember who he is. A notice in the newspaper encourages acquaintances and friends to write him letters so he can start remembering. The letters create a network of texts where the biography of David, the writers, and other people, are rewritten and put at stake.

The letters were written in 2006, but evolve around the past. This way, false views are created – adolescent dreams, the ambitions of artists and plans for the future. It is about what happened to one generation of Norwegians, about gender roles and the search for popularity, identity and the question: What is a life, how is a life story created under the influence of other people's story?

Carl Frode Tiller's third book might be his best so far. The writer is as always good at the surface – the dialogue that turns into quarrel, the bad conscience that surfaces when you mean well, but do not execute it.

Click here to download an extended sample translation of ENCIRCLEMENT.
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Praise for ENCIRCLEMENT:

"Dense, but transparent – serious, but captivating; in an original way this beautiful novel shows us the tangled webs of memories and impressions other people are to us , and how paradoxically difficult it is to live without them."
(Magazine Littéraire, France)

"Carl Frode Tiller has succeeded in writing a terrifying novel, and stands undoubtedly out as a writer worth following."
(Les Inrockuptibles, France)

"Hurry up and discover the super talented Norwegian writer Carl Frode Tiller … with such sophisticated psychological, social and literary analyses as we find in this overwhelming novel, Carl Frode Tiller is most definitively a writer to follow."
(Elle, France)

"Some Scandinavian writers excel at dissecting the intimate, and Tiller is no exception … A novel that calls for a sequel, no doubt."
(Psychologie, France)

"A Norwegian masterpiece of truths and lies ... With ENCIRCLEMENT Carl Frode Tiller has produced a novel written with Ibsenesque virtuosity and loads of intelligence … The book is quite simply a small masterpiece."
(Børsen, Denmark)

"A prize-winning Norwegian novel that examines people through a Bergmanian magnifying glass. It’s not always beautiful, but it is extraordinarily well done… The book is so tremendously well written that the character portraits are lifted up to a whole new literary level. A great story in itself, this is art of the highest order."
(Berlingske Tidende, Denmark)

"An interesting and well written novel with a great senistivity for the comlex, psychological games between people that deserves to be read by many."
(litteraturnu.dk, Denmark)

"The author writes outstandingly about loneliness and interpersonal misery."
(Aftenposten)

"The story is strangely thrilling, and even though the actual plot really just unfolds over a few weeks, we get to learn the story of a couple of generations of people in a much more elegant way than in the classic family chronicle. Tiller is scanty with the explanations and there is honestly not one superfluous piece of information. There are some partial repetitions, but they contribute so well in tightening the threads that they confirm the author’s superior control of the material."
(Mann)

"Carl F. Tiller is a master at digging out dark forces in the human mind … Tiller is at his best when he goes deeply into the tense interpersonal relations. The dialogues vibrate masterly with bitter irritation. No one can measure up to Tiller when it comes to depicting the bottled up rage or the humiliation that eventually pops out in a word that should never have been spoken."
(Trønder-Avisa)

"Tiller’s talent is in the portrayal of the psychological warfare of everyday life … The description of the sore relationship between Jon and his mother and the feelings that pull the son back and forth, is masterly."
(Dagbladet)

"Tiller’s language is gripping … a psychological master … while reading the first part of the book, I found myself thinking there are hardly and authors in Norway today who manage to fill every page of the book with more painful sensibility … Tiller is getting close to something great … In the midst of all this pain, there is also a lot of beauty, and he shows how the fierce search for identity and self-destructiveness of adolescence changes into something else. ENCIRCLEMENT has lots of incredibly strong moments."
(Klassekampen)

"Carl Frode Tiller continues and challenges Norwegian realism of novels with a talent for story-telling that few of his generation can measure up to … Tiller has [] an unusual ear for all the things that amount to the nature of realism, and he can seemingly without effort, conjure up a whole gallery of personas where each and every one of them has this undefineable quality of appearing deep and substantial – even though we know they are made out of ink … an authorship which promise to be the best thing to happen to Norwegian realism in a very long time."
(Dagens Næringsliv)

"Carl Frode Tiller’s third novel is magnificent and just as painfully smart as the two previous novels … There are confrontations, disputes, cold, grief and plenty of delicate situations, but there is still a great deal of enigma and linguistic vitality in the text, which keeps the reader awake, reading until long past midnight … … with this year’s novel he advances right into the elite of Norwegian and Nordic authors."
(Adresseavisen)

"Tiller simply writes really well … Tiller makes me believe, feel and consider. He shows real life and aching fear like few others can."
(Vårt Land’)

"Tiller’s third novel is in every way an intense experience you won’t soon forget … No matter the viewpoint, Tiller writes with a rare glow, and has a razor sharp eye for interpersonal conflicts … Few other writers can make an argument appear as credible and burning and with such rage."
(VG)

"There is an intense sense of initiative in Tiller’s writing. Tiller’s portrayals of the deep cracks in the family hearth, the powerlessness of those who harm their closest with words because they know they can, and then feel ashamed about it after, are terribly good."
(Dagsavisen)

"Tiller is exceptionally good at describing psychological conditions and interpersonal relationships … also, you can’t mention Entanglements without emphasising the ambitious strength of the descriptions of environments."
(Morgenbladet)

First published: 2007, Aschehoug
Carl Frode Tiller: Biography and bibliography

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