Delight and Danger (Heftet)

11 essays about literature

Author:

Vigdis Hjorth

Norwegian title: Fryd og fare
Norwegian subtitle: Essay om diktning og eksistens
Author:
Binding: Heftet
Year: 2016
Pages: 224
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Språk: Bokmål
ISBN/EAN: 9788202443535
Overview Fryd og fare

All passionate reading is unbreakably linked to the readers mind, finding what the reader has a need for to survive and understand more of themselves and the world, no less. Vigdis Hjorth says this in the foreword to this collection of essays, where she discusses books and authors that have had great meaning to her. The authors she writes about are Bertholt Brecht, Tove Ditlevsen, Knut Hamsun, Søren Kirkegaard, Virginia Woolf, Dag Solstad, Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen and Witold Gombrowicz. Vigdis Hjorth has open and brave opinions about literature and the relationship between life and writing, looking for the great questions in her writing.

Vigdis Hjorth has made a selection of good articles that she has written about literature in this book, showing that a warm, cultivated and enthusiastic human can give life and inspiration to learning in a way that machines could never copy. This is a book that takes time to read, but not because it is thick or too full of words. This is because you from time to time have to put the book down and think for a while, have some discussions with yourself about one subject or another. And after winning the discussion, brilliantly of course, you can pick the book back up and let yourself be taken further into literature, with Vigdis Hjorth as your good and wise guide.
Odd W. Surén - DAG OG TID

When I read Delight and Danger, I want to write more like Vigdis Hjorth. This book is an inspiring addition to the everlasting discussion about the role of literature.

Toril Moi - MORGENBLADET

Open, thoughtful and elegant.
Vigdis Hjorth knows the art of seducing the reader without ever loosing the seriousness out of sight. The result is eleven very good texts about life and literature. Hjorth is concerned with freedom and responsibility, and in her essay about Søren Kirkegaard she weaves her personal experiences together with philosophical insight about daring to live you life outside the pressure of conformity. Vigdis Hjort´s life and literature is in this way an example to look to. The essay collection Delight and Danger remind us that literature in one way or another has to matter to the reader, if it aims at being relevant and interesting.
Gro Jørstad Nilsen - BERGENS TIDENDE

Essays without affectation
Exemplary presentation of writers.
Olav Løkken Reisop - DAGBLADET

Blissfully serious
This essay collection gives good insight into Vigdis Hjorths many passionate literary relationships. The essays shows an author who has a wide register to choose from, and where the erotic is far from supreme, but jus one of many human fields that can be used to enlighten life and understanding more of the self.
Turid Larsen - DAGSAVISEN

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Andre utgaver

Fryd og fare
Bokmål Heftet 2013

More books by Vigdis Hjorth:

Reviews Fryd og fare

Det frydefulle alvor

«Essaysamlingen viser en forfatter som spiller på et stort register.(...)Essaysamlingen gir et godt innblikk i Vigdis Hjorths mange pasjonerte litterære forhold. De viser en forfatter som spiller på et stort register, der erotikken på ingen måte er enerådende, men en av mange menneskelige felter som kan brukes for å belyse livsvilkårene og forstå mer av seg selv.»

Turid Larsen, Dagsavisen

Skriver essay uten jåleri

«Forbilledlig presentasjon av andre diktere.»

Olav Løkken Reisop, Dagbladet

Åpent, tenksomt og elegant

«Vigdis Hjorth kan kunsten å forføre leseren uten å tape alvoret av syne. Resultatet er elleve gode tekster om liv og litteratur.(...)Hjorth er opptatt av frihet og ansvar, og essayet om Søren Kierkegaard vever det personlige sammen med filosofiske innsikter om å tørre å leve sitt liv utenfor konformitetspresset. Vigdis Hjorths liv og litteratur er i så måte et eksempel til etterfølgelse.(...)Vigdis Hjorths essaysamling Fryd og fare minner oss om at litteratur på ett eller annet vis må angå leseren for å være relevant og interessant.»

Gro Jørstad Nilsen, Bergens Tidende

«Når jeg leser Fryd og fare, får jeg lyst til å skrive mer som Vigdis Hjorth ... et inspirerende bidrag til den evige debatten om litteraturens rolle.»

Torill Moi, Morgenbladet

«Vigdis Hjorth har samla eit knippe gode artiklar ho har skrive om litteratur i ei bok med tittelen Fryd og fare, og der syner ho at eit varmt, kultivert og entusiastisk menneske kan gjera lærdom levande og inspirerande på ein måte maskinene ikkje kan etterlikna (...) Dette er ei bok som det tek tid å lesa, men ikkje av di ho er tjukk eller ordrik. Det kjem berre av at ein må leggja boka ned og gruvla litt no og då og føra diskusjonar med seg sjølv om det eine emnet etter det andre. Først når diskusjonen er vunnen, og det med glans, sjølvsagt, kan ein ta opp boka og lata seg føra vidare i litteraturen, med Vigdis Hjorth som ein klok og god guide.»

Odd W. Surén, Dag og Tid

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Author Vigdis Hjorth

Vigdis Hjorth (b. 1959) has over several decades been one of Norway’s most important authors. She published her debut in 1983 in form of the children’s book Pelle-Ragnar and the Yellow Building, for which she received the Norwegian Cultural Council’s Debut Prize. Since then, she has had a prolific and award-winning authorship, writing for both children and adults. She has won several awards in Norway and has been nominated twice for the Nordic Council Literature Prize so far, for Will and Testament (2016) and Is Mother Dead (2020).

Hjorth writes existential books about human conditions and life choices, and throws a sharp gaze at current topics in the contemporary time. With novels such as Long Live the Post Horn! (2012) she has made her mark as a fearless political author. Her big breakthrough came in 2016 with Will and Testament, which became an instant favourite among literature critics as well as a huge sales success. In this novel Hjorth writes about complicated family relationships, about violation and liberation in close relationships, and the right to own one’s own story. Will and Testament was nominated for the National Book Award and Millions Best Translated Book Award when it was published in the US and the UK in 2019. In 2022 Is Mother Dead came out in English, and it was longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Award. Hjorth’s novels have been translated into more than 30 languages.

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