[SingleMan]

?Life, I do not understand you?, writes Doctor Tyko Gabriel Glas in his diary as events draw to a close in Hjalmar S?derberg?s classic eponymous novel, Doctor Glas (1905), and it sums up all of his frustrations at his understanding of the world around him and at the life shattering realisation that life has passed him by. Of course, if it has passed then it has been his own doing, and how things have come to be so make the reading of his diary a rich and rewarding experience, even if it breaches (albeit in reverse) the whole doctors and confidentiality thing.

Set in Stockholm over an unusually hot summer, the likes of which he has never known, the thirty-something Doctor Glas tends to his patients by day and scribbles away in his diary at night. The entries are wide ranging, covering his day to day duties, his encounters with people in his wider circle, and his deeper reflections on the nature of the world and of himself.
One of the first questions he asks himself is one of the more unusual ones:How can it have come about that, out of all possible trades, I should have chosen the one which suits me least?For a doctor, he has a strange understanding of life. He shuns something as natural as sex, disgusted by how filthy it sounds (?why must the life of our species be preserved and our longing stilled by means of an organ we use several times a day to drain impurities??) and spurns any attention shown to him, despite admitting that ?I?m alone and the moon is shining, and I long for a woman?. One women, it is mentioned, has even made her interest known, but he can?t remember her mouth, and ?one is only really familiar with a mouth one has kissed, or longed very much to kiss.?

One such mouth, however, belongs to Helga, (?whose heart was full of desire and misery?), the young wife of the ?loathsome? Reverend Gregorius. She comes to his surgery one day, not through illness, but to ask of him a favour, saying that she is tired of her husband taking his rights in the bedroom and could he please say that she has an infection of the womb in order to deter him, even admitting that she has another lover. Whatever efforts Glas makes, however, helps only temporarily and Gregorius returns to old ways, effectively raping his wife.

All other options exhausted, Doctor Glas wrestles in his mind over the notion of murder, wondering whether removing Gregorius from the picture is the right decision. ?Morality, that?s others? views of what is right,? he tells himself: Morality becomes consciously for me what it is in practice for each and every person, although all do not recognise it: not a fixed law, binding above all, but a modus vivendi, useful for daily life in that unremitting state of war which exists between oneself and the world.And so he takes to wandering around with a small number of cyanide pills he had originally fashioned for himself, back in the days when he had contemplated suicide. Indeed, if his plan were not to go well he realised he must still consider that option.

While the novel?s surface expertly handles a twisted love triangle, it is the novel?s attitudes to such themes as abortion, euthanasia, and women?s right?s that make it a particular stand out. For a novel written over a hundred years ago, its ideas are incredibly prescient:The day will come, must come, when the right to die is recognised as far more important and inalienable a human right than the right to drop a voting ticket into a ballot box. And when that time is ripe, every incurable sick person ? and every ?criminal? also ? shall have the right to the doctor?s help, if he wishes to be set free.What makes these themes more interesting, in light of the narrative, is that the presentation is never didactic. Glas doesn?t so much believe in women?s rights as act in his own interestes towards the reverend?s wife. He refuses the women who come to him begging abortions, as his duties don?t allow it, although he does sympathise, especially on coming face to face with the product of one such opportunity.

S?derberg has done a brilliant job of making Glas a man of contrasts, his suggestive name hinting at his transparency, no matter what he himself sees. At times a seemingly generous soul, willing to help, his psyche goes deeper, darker, and into selfish realms. And no matter how much he may deceive himself, he still provides an understanding of the world and people:We want to be loved; failing that, admired; failing that, feared; failing that, hated and despised. At all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. Our soul abhors a vacuum. At all costs it longs for contact.Coming to the conclusion of Doctor Glas, and longing for the winter after the summer, it?s no wonder that Glas does not understand life. Indeed, he writes, ?Life is action, When I see something that makes me indignant, I want to intervene.? but he can do nothing to intervene in his own circumstances.

Remarkably modern, Doctor Glas provides a fantastic slice of the gothic in a narrative that is, by turns, invigorating and horrific, and told with such succinctness that begs the question of why many modern novels contain so much fluff. It?s dark, refreshing, and completely enjoyable; as fiction goes, it?s just what the doctor ordered.

[taesrom]

I saw Hjalmar S?derberg’s novel Doctor Glas on display as a staff recommendation in a provincial bookstore - the sort of shop where otherwise it’s wall-to-wall 3-for-2s - and I was so surprised that I bought it, just to encourage them. Here in the UK, it remains available only in hardback, which seems a [...]

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[bypeTeenehalT]

A good review, on the Asylum - John Self's Shelves website, the start of which is visible here.

He makes a good point about expensive editions. I bought my copy at the main railway station in Stockholm in a dirt-cheap Swedish paperback edition. Hjalmar S?derberg is, after all, a national institution, alongside Strindberg and Bergman. It seems an awful pity that it has not appeared in paperback in English, as this condemns what is, after all, an obscure writer for most British readers to continued obscurity.

John Self says:

I saw Hjalmar S?derberg’s novel Doctor Glas on display as a staff recommendation in a provincial bookstore - the sort of shop where otherwise it’s wall-to-wall 3-for-2s - and I was so surprised that I bought it, just to encourage them. Here in the UK, it remains available only in hardback, which seems a shame; then again, as it’s been reprinted five times in five years in this pricey format, the publishers (the redoubtable Harvill) must know what they’re doing. I wonder...

[SingleMan]

My copy, the US edition, is a paperback. Harvill may just be doing it right, if the hardback is selling. The responses on his blog suggest people are reading it.

[bypeTeenehalT]

Great if it's selling. As a member of the Swedish-English Literary Translators' Association (SELTA), I'm always happy to hear when Swedish or Finland-Swedish literature gets translated into English and, indeed, actually sells copies that then get read.

I prefer to read a hardback copy from the library to a dog-eared paperback, but my pecuniary state doesn't allow me to walk into Waterstone's and buy too many new hardbacks.

"Doctor Glas", the hardback, is going on the Waterstone's website for ?11.99. Not a prohibitive price.

Looking at the internet, some of Hjalmar S?derberg's stories were published by Norvik in paperback, back in 1987. Going for ?8.95. Same price for "Martin Birck's Youth", Norvik, 2004. And "The Serious Game" (stories?), Marion Boyars, 2001, for ?8.99.

[KlaraNovikoffa]

Stewart,
I just came across the brilliant review you wrote on Doctor Glas.
My, you are quite a wordsmith! I was particularly struck by
this portion of your final paragraph: "a fantastic slice of the gothic in a narrative that is, by turns, invigorating and horrific, and told with such succinctness that begs the question why so many modern novels contain so much fluff." Good point, and worded so exquisitely. Honestly, I read this passage at least three times, maybe more.

I just picked up my hardcover copy of Doctor Glas from the library yesterday. Can't wait to give it a read. Especially after reading your marvelous review, Stewart.

~Titania

[VYholden]

I'm a new member of the forum and this is my first post.

I was pleased to find that this forum exists, delighted to see that there is a dedicated Swedish Literature thread, and thrilled to find there is a Hjalmar S?derberg "Doctor Glas" sub-thread. Well, that's overstating things a bit, but you get my drift. I was a bit wary of the whole avatar thing, as it seems presumptuous to assume the features of Leo Tolstoy or some other literary titan, but when I saw that S?derberg's refined features were also on offer, I couldn't resist.

I first got to know Doctor Glas in the summer of 1970 when I found a paperback translation in a bookshop in Brighton, shortly before going off to Sweden to teach English for the Folk University. The translation was by Paul Britten Austin, there was a foreword by William Sansom, and the publisher was Tandem, but the translation was originally published in 1963 by Chatto & Windus in collaboration with the Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation.

As you may have guessed, I'm sitting looking at the aforesaid book right now (my memory's not that good!). The cover picture is a shot from the Mai Zetterling film of the book starring Per Oscarsson and Lone Hertz. How could I resist the cover blurb: "Passion, murder and conscience form a strange and terrible triangle".

In 1970 the only Swedish writer I had heard of was Strindberg, and while a student in Edinburgh I had dutifully gone to see every Ingmar Bergman film that came to town, so my vision of Sweden was the stereotypical one of snow, doom and gloom. It was a nice corrective to read S?derberg's evocation of balmy Stockholm summer evenings, with dandified "flaneurs" strolling along the leafy boulevards and well-dressed people sitting at pavement caf?s. One really does get a sense of the Paris of the north. S?derberg was a convinced francophile and an admirer and translator of Anatole France.

After returning from Sweden in 1972 I kept up my interest in the language, in which I had become fairly fluent, and when I eventually embarked on a University of London external BA in Scandinavian Studies I relished the opportunity to write about S?derberg's book (which I had of course by now read in Swedish!).

S?derberg is an interesting study from both a literary and a psychological standpoint. His rabid anti-clericalism, which shows up in his portrayal of the ghastly Lutheran minister in "Doctor Glas", was to take over his life in the end and persuade him to spend his time writing what he hoped would be a devastating critique of Christianity. His many admirers probably wish he had given us just one more novel, or even a few more "ber?ttelser" in his inimitable style.

Harry

[bypeTeenehalT]

Welcome, HDW, I may have met you in a previous life. I too thought the avatar thing a little odd, but as some people at university called me "Witold", I have adopted the rather sallow-gaunt-profiled Gombrowicz as mine.

I bought "Doktor Glas" in Swedish in the cheapest of cheap paperbacks last summer in the bookshop on Stockholm railway station, but haven't read it yet. I feel that not having read at least a couple of books by S?derberg is a failure for someone who, like myself, studied Swedish at university. Not least because when I left Sweden in 1989, someone gave me the Bure Holmb?ck biography as a leaving present, also, sadly unread twenty years later!

"Doktor Glas" is only about 180 pages long; I shall add it to the pile of things I should read. Is there going to be a reprint, or new English translation of the novel? Because Norvik publishes a couple of other S?derberg books in English translation, as I mentioned in a previous entry. The English Wikipedia even has an entry for the book:

Doctor Glas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But maybe the entry is also a bit of a spoiler. Is the 2002 Anchor Books version, introduced by Margaret Atwood, this same Paul Britten Austin translation, or a newer one?

[SingleMan]

Is the 2002 Anchor Books version, introduced by Margaret Atwood, this same Paul Britten Austin translation, or a newer one?

Yes, it's the Paul Britten Austin translation. It in no way needs updating, I should think, as the language is still contemporary.

[bypeTeenehalT]

Good thing you say that, Stewart. I am a great believer in not retranslating the same book endlessly, when there are so many books crying out for translation into English. If there are no major flaws in accuracy or style, translators should move on. Translations don't date that quickly. I still smile when I read that the long Pushkin poem "Evgeni Onegin" has been translated 22 times into English!

[VYholden]

Not to mention being made into a film starring Ralph Fiennes.

My wife, who delights in making wrong word-breaks, insists on calling it "Eugene One-Gin".

Harry

[bypeTeenehalT]

I first heard the joking "Eugene One-Gin" from the lips of Arch Tait, a Russian translator, also a Scotsman. I have translated a book by the Estonian Friedebert Tuglas, whom I tend to call, in similar wise, "Friedebert Two-Glass".

I really hope to read more Hjalmar S?derberg when I can find the time. I also have a two-volume selection of his works, including some of his novels and stories.

[soineeLom]

I read it back in the 80s, but do not remember any details. I do know I loved it at the time. Was very impressed. And it remains in my top 100 list. Always meant to find other works by the author and read them as well. Thanks for the excellent review . . .

[VYholden]

I posted the following on the News Discussion thread, but it belongs here just as much -


Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 53

Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009
Bj?rn's post of 3rd April about "the state of Nordic literature" gives a link to the book pages of the Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter", and I was just about to head to the article in question when my eye was caught by a sub-heading at the side about Hjalmar S?derberg's "Doktor Glas" and Kerstin Ekman. Ekman is one of Sweden's leading novelists, best known to the English-speaking world for "Blackwater", a brooding thriller set in the north of Sweden. So what's all this about?

Well, Ekman is bringing out a new novel this autumn - and I've translated a brief pr?cis of her interview with DN's Sarah Magnusson -

"In Mordets praktik(The Practice of Murder) she joins those authors who have been fascinated and inspired by Hjalmar S?derberg's fictional character Doktor Glas.

- The novel is partly about when S?derberg conceived the idea for Doktor Glas and about how he meets a doctor who gives him the idea for the plot, says Kerstin Ekman.

You have previously written thrillers and the novel's title suggests that genre - is this a thriller-type novel?

- No, there is no unsolved mystery, but it is a suspenseful novel, inspired by a murder."

I saw Ekman at a Scandinavian Studies conference some years ago at the University of Surrey in Guildford - a pretty, frail-looking woman whose appearance belies her fascination with the dark side of life. I find her books a bit too bleak for my taste, but I'll be interested to see what she does with the Doktor Glas story.

Harry

[erepsysoulptnw]

Ekman has always interested me, but the German summaries and the readership here (by which I mean the people I know who read her) have always raised a red "trash" flag. since you have, apparently, read a few of her books?, yould you enlighten me, please?

[VYholden]

I've read a lot about her, but the only books by her that I've read are "Under the Snow" (De tre sm? m?starna) and "Blackwater" (H?ndelser vid vatten). Can't remember much about the former, but here's the blurb on my paperback copy, which gives you the general feeling of the book:

"In the harsh, distant Nordic landscape of Lapland, shrouded in the unremitting darkness of winter, a drunken evening ends in two deaths.

But when Constable Torsson skis out to investigate, he is met with a conspiracy of silence - witnesses contradict and confuse one another; the only clue is a bloodstained mahjong tile. Reluctantly Torsson accepts their story and the case is closed ...

Until the arrival of David, an eccentric redheaded painter determined to find out the truth. And as their investigation uncovers the full fury of small-town suspicion and guilt, events move inexorably towards a chilling and violent climax."

Not too many laughs, then.

"Blackwater" was an international bestseller. Somebody must have made a movie out of it by now, surely. Quick blurb - "Two violent deaths in the Swedish wilderness; the hurried flight of a sinister stranger: terrible events long buried in Annie Raft's memory - until she sees her daughter in the arms of the man she believes responsible for the killings ..."

Forgive the clich?, but she specialises in psychological thrillers, and is brilliant at conjuring up the sinister atmosphere of places where nasty things have happened. Her characters sometimes (for me) evoke all the old stereotypes of curt, laconic Scandinavians. I believe she has also written a tetralogy about life in a small town in central Sweden, but I've only read those northern wilderness stories.

In the year 2000 she got the rare accolade of being invited to take part in an international seminar in Stockholm of her translators from all over the world (there are at least six English translators alone). That kind of thing is normally the preserve of JK Rowling, and I don't think she takes part herself.

Harry

[VYholden]

I've read a lot about her, but the only books by her that I've read are "Under the Snow" (De tre sm? m?starna) and "Blackwater" (H?ndelser vid vatten). Can't remember much about the former, but here's the blurb on my paperback copy, which gives you the general feeling of the book:

"In the harsh, distant Nordic landscape of Lapland, shrouded in the unremitting darkness of winter, a drunken evening ends in two deaths.

But when Constable Torsson skis out to investigate, he is met with a conspiracy of silence - witnesses contradict and confuse one another; the only clue is a bloodstained mahjong tile. Reluctantly Torsson accepts their story and the case is closed ...

Until the arrival of David, an eccentric redheaded painter determined to find out the truth. And as their investigation uncovers the full fury of small-town suspicion and guilt, events move inexorably towards a chilling and violent climax."

Not too many laughs, then.

"Blackwater" was an international bestseller. Somebody must have made a movie out of it by now, surely. Quick blurb - "Two violent deaths in the Swedish wilderness; the hurried flight of a sinister stranger: terrible events long buried in Annie Raft's memory - until she sees her daughter in the arms of the man she believes responsible for the killings ..."

Forgive the clich?, but she specialises in psychological thrillers, and is brilliant at conjuring up the sinister atmosphere of places where nasty things have happened. Her characters sometimes (for me) evoke all the old stereotypes of curt, laconic Scandinavians. I believe she has also written a tetralogy about life in a small town in central Sweden, but I've only read those northern wilderness stories.

In the year 2000 she got the rare accolade of being invited to take part in an international seminar in Stockholm of her translators from all over the world (there are at least six English translators alone). That kind of thing is normally the preserve of JK Rowling, and I don't think she takes part herself.

Harry

[erepsysoulptnw]

wow. thanks.

[Jwskwhdo]

I have just finished the book today.

To me it was interesting to read Dr. Glass thoughts about the law and moral and he even mentions Dostojevski at one point. It must have been a shock, that a doctor could actually say that he did not agree with his duty! I would think a doctor was a rolemodel in the community in those days (1904). And to think that he defended a woman and her rights by commiting murder! Let alone the parts about sex and abortion...

I must admit the ending was a wee bit dissapointing to me. It felt like it just all died out....and the doctor just longed for winter... maybe Im missing a point here?

[Jwskwhdo]

Apparently Bengt Ohlsson has written a book called Gregorius which is the same story as Dr.Glas but seen from the pastor?s point of view.

I find that rather interesting, so the book got on my TBR list straight away!

See Stewarts blog: booklit Blog Archive Hjalmar S?derberg: Doctor Glas</p>