Authors: Erlend Loe
Lazy Days (15 page)
Lazy days… Long, hot nights… Deep, dark thoughts…
Meet Bror Telemann.
42 years old. Husband to Nina Telemann. Father to Heidi, Berthold and Sabine. Currently: stage director at the Norwegian National Theatre. Soon to be: world-famous playwright and general talking head.
Now he’s on holiday with his family at the foot of the Alps, south of Munich. That’s in Germany. Nina loves Germany. Telemann does not. Telemann loves Nigella Lawson.
Ahem... he loves the theatre.
That’s better.
So, whilst his wife and children frolic in the dusky sunshine with lederhosen-sporting, schnitzel-scoffing locals, Telemann prefers to spend his time thinking about theatre...
...except when his mind wanders...
again.
Subversive and original, this is the 2009 Norwegian bestseller from the deliciously dark mind of Erlend Loe.
Doppler
‘Wonderfully subversive, funny and original.’ —
Observer
‘A darkly comic fable which makes some astringent points about the way we live today.’ —
Independent
‘Charming, funny and a touch dark… [Doppler] is like a Nordic Obi-Wan.’ —
Big Issue
‘A heart warming tale.’ —
Edinburgh Evening News
‘Loe provides his readers with a steady stream of deadpan irony and keenly observed social absurdity… an affecting portrait of materialist alienation.’ —
Times Literary Supplement
‘An absurdist, hilariously subversive novel.’ —
Saga
‘Easy to read but not quickly forgotten, Doppler is a deceptively humorous tale of a man’s search for meaning in his life… A distinctive and original book.’ —
Red
Doppler
Once, Doppler lived in a nice house and went to work every morning in his Volvo. Then, shortly after his father died, he left his job, his home and his family, and went to live in the forest.
For a while, Doppler is strangely content. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, and he finds companionship in the form of a tenacious baby elk named Bongo. But over time, others are attracted to their simple way of life. Doppler is joined by his young son (who quickly goes into daytime television withdrawal). Düsseldorf – a depressed miniature-soldier enthusiast – sets up camp nearby and is followed by an obnoxious right-wing dog walker. Even Doppler’s pregnant wife pays the occasional conjugal visit.
And with every convert to his new life in the woods, the existence that Doppler foresaw – alone, in the forest, with his elk – is disappearing…
Compelling and perceptive,
Doppler
is a deeply subversive fable from one of Norway’s bestselling writers.
For a preview of
Doppler
, click
here
.
Doppler
is available
here
.
ERLEND LOE is a Norwegian novelist. His eight books have been translated into over twenty languages.
DON BARTLETT lives in Norfolk, and is the translator of, among others, Per Petterson and Jo Nesbø.
DON SHAW lives in Denmark and is the compiler of the standard Danish-Thai dictionaries. They have previously collaborated on novels by Roy Jacobsen and Jakob Ejersbo.
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First published in the UK in 2013 by Head of Zeus Ltd.
Copyright © Erlend Loe, 2009
Copyright © Cappelen Damm AS, 2009
Translation © Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, 2013
Published in agreement with Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN, in association with Cappelen Damm AS, Akersgata 47/49, Oslo, Norway
The moral right of Erlend Loe to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
The moral right of Don Bartlett and Don Shaw to be identified as the translators of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
This translation has been published with the financial support of NORLA.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB): 9781781855171
ISBN (eBook): 9781781855164
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