Jakob Ejersbo’s Followers (67)

Jakob Ejersbo

Born

in Rødovre, Denmark

April 06, 1968

Died

July 10, 2008

Genre

Literature & Fiction

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Jakob Ejersbo is a writer who died young. He succumbed to cancer at 40, having published a volume of short stories and a novel, Nordkraft, which won the 2003 Golden Laurel Prize. But more importantly, it was hailed by critics and readers alike as a great new Danish novel, ushering in a new type of fiction that would draw a line under the minimalism and symbolism that had prevailed in Danish literature during the late 1990s.

A gritty, realistic tale about disaffected youth in Aalborg, Denmark’s fourth largest city, it captured the Danes’ imaginations, holding a mirror to their society and rendering them as they saw themselves.

It was the last book Ejersbo would live to publish. He died in July 2008, just 10 months after being diagnosed with ca Jakob Ejersbo is a writer who died young. He succumbed to cancer at 40, having published a volume of short stories and a novel, Nordkraft, which won the 2003 Golden Laurel Prize. But more importantly, it was hailed by critics and readers alike as a great new Danish novel, ushering in a new type of fiction that would draw a line under the minimalism and symbolism that had prevailed in Danish literature during the late 1990s.

A gritty, realistic tale about disaffected youth in Aalborg, Denmark’s fourth largest city, it captured the Danes’ imaginations, holding a mirror to their society and rendering them as they saw themselves.

It was the last book Ejersbo would live to publish. He died in July 2008, just 10 months after being diagnosed with cancer. Throughout his illness, Ejersbo strove to complete his latest project, an ambitious trilogy about the relationship between the West and the Third World. Shortly after his death, his publisher, Johannes Riis, literary director at Gyldendal, revealed that he had left behind a manuscript and that it was virtually finished.

At a cumulative 1,600 pages, Ejersbo’s trilogy is a formidable work, and when the first part, Eksil, was released in Denmark in summer 2009 it caused just as much of stir as did Nordkraft. The literary critic Klaus Rothstein wrote in the Danish Literary Magazine that ‘seldom has anyone written anything so insistent and impassioned, so glowing hot and ice-cold, so heartfelt and so cynical’.

The trilogy is primarily set in Eastern Africa and explores the relationships between European ex-pats and the Tanzanians they live amongst. Ejersbo was not a writer for whom easy solutions and happy endings held any interested, and there are none to be found in these bleak but impeccably observed books. The trilogy is also formally inventive: two novels, Exile and Liberty sandwich a collection of stories that returns to the characters introduced in the first part.

In October 2011, MacLehose Press will be publishing Exile in English, translated by Mette Petersen. It is primarily the story of Samantha, the daughter of neglectful, abusive English parents, who takes solace in sex, drugs and lies but cannot control her destiny once the wheel of catastrophe has begun to turn. Revolution will follow in 2012 and Liberty in 2013. I’ll let Klaus Rothstein have the last word, except to say that we haven’t been as excited about a Scandinavian trilogy since Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy:

"Jakob Ejersbo was a deliberate and original writer, who was not only able to maintain an artistic overview of the antipoetry of existence but was also capable of describing it in finely narrated and captivating language. Exile is an electrifying novel, and its final chapter – which gives the novel its name – shocks the reader as a shattering highpoint of modern Danish literature."

Klaus Rothstein, Danish Literary Magazine
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Combine Editions
Jakob Ejersbo’s books

Average rating: 3.96 · 9,279 ratings · 358 reviews · 11 distinct works • Similar authors

	Eksil (Afrika-trilogien, #1) 3.90 avg rating — 3,000 ratings — published 2009 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nordkraft 3.83 avg rating — 2,697 ratings — published 2002 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Liberty (Afrika-trilogien, #3) 4.30 avg rating — 1,575 ratings — published 2009 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Revolution (Afrika-trilogien, #2) 4.05 avg rating — 1,637 ratings — published 2009 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Superego 3.65 avg rating — 223 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nedrullede persienner og andre begyndelser 3.29 avg rating — 78 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ok International 3.27 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2009 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fuga: brevroman by Jakob Ejersbo, Morten Alsinger 3.53 avg rating — 19 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fire noveller af Jessen, Ejersbo, Helle og Djørup by Ida Jessen, Jakob Ejersbo, Helle Helle really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 15 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bra it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jakob Ejersbo…

Series by Jakob Ejersbo

Afrika-trilogien (3 books)
by

Jakob Ejersbo

4.04 avg rating — 6,212 ratings

Topics Mentioning This Author

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Jakob Ejersbo’s Followers (67)

Jakob Ejersbo

Combine EditionsJakob Ejersbo’s books

Series by Jakob Ejersbo

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Jakob Ejersbo’s books