Priority

by Iselin C. Hermann, G. Forester (Translator)

Acclaimed as "a sensuous literary treat" by the Santa Fe New Mexican, Priority is a lovely and nuanced exploration of intellectual admiration that develops into consuming passion. It begins as a young woman, Delphine, writes a letter to Jean-Luc, a painter whose work has touched her. She is sure he will not read it--but he does, and he answers. Over the next eighteen months, Delphine's letters bare her soul layer by layer, making her ever more vulnerable to his teasing replies and long silences. Helplessly, Delphine finds herself falling in love with a man she knows only through what he reveals in his letters. Her fascination with him begins to overwhelm her, until she begins to long for a lover she has never seen. Finally, it seems, a meeting may no longer be postponed. "A gem of an epistolary novel, a tiny thriller ... Hermann reveals a startling capacity of human beings for self-invention." -- Joan Mellen, The Baltimore Sun

Genres: Fiction, Scandinavian Literature, Erotica, France, Romance, Danish

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Iselin C. Hermann (born 22 June 1959 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish writer.

Hermann’s debut as an author was her 1998 epistolary novel Prioritaire, which has been published in more than 20 countries, and was one of the most successful Danish author debuts in recent times. Prioritaire has appeared in English under two different titles: Priority and Special Delivery. The English translator was G. Forester.

Since publishing her debut novel, she has written addition novels for adults, as well as books for children.

She received multiple grants from Statens Kunstfond between 2004 and 2007.

Reviews

[janetonic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ez nekem nagyon nem. Mintha egy nyelvórán ültem volna, ami több szinttel alacsonyabb a sajátomnál, a fikció erdeje pedig csupa műanyag fából állt. Rendben, igaz, olvasás közben hajtott a kíváncsiság, hogy mi lesz ebből, és a végén a csavar menti az egészet egy kissé. De nem gondolkodtatott el a vágyról és az illúziókról, mert számomra nem mond semmi újat ezekről. Hornby Meztelen Juliet-je jutott eszembe róla, ami némileg hasonló, de sok szempontból kenterbe veri ezt a szösszenetet. Az Expressz ajánlott! tanmese-szerű, Hornby könyve viszont igazi regény, valódi alakokkal. Szerintem olvassátok inkább azt.

[Nugzar Kotua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Очень короткий роман в письмах с неожиданным  финалом; стремительное и страстное произведение, завершение которого уже в середине покажется фатальным. Рейтинг 3,65 на Goodreads.com , конечно не показатель, но все же! Прямолинейно, узко, но очень ярко!

Иселин Херманн. «Paravion. Переписка изданная Жан-Люком Форёром»

[Onion Budgie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The character of Delphine set both my eyebrows to dancing the rhumba at way too many points during the reading of this novella. Her letters to Jean-Luc almost immediately come across as clinging and whining, and divorced from reality. In later letters, quite frankly, she sounds batshit crazy. I enjoyed the 'letter' format in itself, but wished that there had been more exploration into character rather than plunging almost immediately into fantasy and crazy. There was a twist at the end, which I predicted. Actually, a double twist -- which I liked.

[osoi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Я довольно спокойно отношусь к любовным романам – я их просто не читаю. Херманн долгое время сверлила меня взглядом с полок Буквоедов своим «Домино», так что в конце концов я сдалась и взяла почитать самую тонкую книгу датчанки, какую только нашла.

Собственно, это переписка двух незнакомцев, между которыми возникает неизбежная полуправда в духе «казаться лучше, чем ты есть», но сквозь эту пелену проглядывается, к моему величайшему удивлению, какая-то запредельная искренность. Должно быть, любить тайну-загадку, посвящать ее в самые интимные подробности своих желаний так просто именно потому что при этом не надо смотреть ей в глаза.
Главный финт, он же поворот романа, можно разгадать с первого же намека. Это тот самый случай, когда волей-неволей слова врезаются в память, и по мере дальнейшего прочтения крутятся в голове. Остальное время, до самой развязки, я провела в тревожном ожидании трагедии, которая просто обязана была нагрянуть на последних страницах.

Херманн не изобрела колесо, но сделала свой 100-страничный велосипед таким утонченным, нежным, легким и одновременно трагичным, что не восхититься ее мастерством нельзя.

annikeh.net

[Liveta | Nerastis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lengvas skaitaliukas, kiek neįprastas dėl savo formos, nes visa knyga – bendravimas laiškais tarp dviejų niekada vienas kito nemačiusių žmonių. Kai jau buvau nusivylusi, kad į pabaigą visai viskas suskystėjo, šovė netikėtumą ir op! fainai.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

il finale?????

[Brian DiNitto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute -> titillating -> interesting -> moving -> sensuous -> risky -> dangerous -> abandon. All before they meet. A powerful correspondence that shows the amazing power of the mind to construct castles in the sky. Only if we could live in them with more than just a book. Until then, live it through this book.

[Lyazzat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm completely impressed by the book. The style of correspondence, the description of small things and attention for the slightest details. I havent read anything similar to Iselin's book. Over all the story as you think will end up as usual but it takes to another astonishing level which you'd better to discover yourself. The experience of reading was couldnt move and read breathless.

[Alatea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was wondering whether this could happen in the "real world" (I actually do think so, but the book was so unconvincing that I started doubting) and whether or not I should finish it as I wasn't very pleased with both the story and the characters, when the end of this book hit me. It makes me close my eyes against everything else and say that at least the end was interesting and unexpected.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't decide whether to give this three or four stars. I settled on three. I really like it but I didn't love it. Delphine is needy and a little annoying. The letters are beautifully written. the ending was a surprise. Now I want to give it four stars...

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

At just 136 pages, this is the most intense little book I have read in a long time. I devoured it in one seating and absolutely loved it.

[Camilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm.. The ending was unexpected.. But I found, that I love reading a book like this.. Through letters..

[Camilla Haahr · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute and beautiful but also incredibly sad. The completely unexpected ending made me want to read it all over again.

[Ali Belash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this book up on discount at a Crow bookstore on Church St in Burlington, VT. Steamy, fun, and romantic short read.

"They say my french is the way it was spoken a hundred years ago. It is as if it had been poured into a jelly mould and kept in a cool place. They say that if a linguist is to find the spoken language as it was before the days of LPs and tape recorders, then they must go looking for expatriates in out-of-the-way places"

"press a key on the piano and you produce a note. But it is the transition to the next note, and the one after, that makes the notes into music. Is it not in the transitions, the intervening spaces, that life is to be found? Are we anything else but change and movement?"

"A butterfly is so light, which is why you are to have it, because you are so weighed down."

"I am beside myself. I never understood the expression before - not until now. My energy, my strength, my mind, they all lie outside me. My attention goes casting about in search of you."

[Mrs Book Pond (Anna-Lena) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prioritaire är en tunn liten sak, snabbt utläst, men inte helt enkel att ta till sig. Delphine är en drömmare som svävar ut i imaginära resor och resonemang jag ibland inte alls följer. Ingenting sägs om hur någon ser ut, hur gamla de är, vad Delphine jobbar med, men på något sätt accepterar jag det. För samtidigt tillhör det leken mellan brevskrivarna att de inte blir precisa och exakta, att bristen på fakta gör plats för drömmar och en växande sensualism. Och frustration. För att Delphine är den som vill eller älskar mest är uppenbart. Det är nästintill plågsamt att läsa och är nog en känsla som många kan relatera till.

"Tystnaden är massiv. -- Jag har inte hört ifrån dig på över fyra veckor. Tystnaden gör mig orolig och rastlös. Min bröstkorg öppnar sig mot dig och det gör ont."

Jag läser boken lite förstrött fram till slutet. Och där: pang, allt ställs på ända. Ingenting ska avslöjas, men jag blir tagen - och läser om den en gång till.

[Yaroslava Yakovenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ця книга потрапила мені до рук абсолютно випадково. Короткий і пристрасний роман. Герої книги боязкі і залякані, а кожен лист написано так, ніби його автор страшиться того, котрий передував, а ще більше – того, який отримає у відповідь. Читаєш і у якийсь момент навіть ловиш себе на тому, що заздриш такому накалу емоцій. Чисте захоплення. Нічим не замутнене здивування. Трагічний фінал, який вириває серце.

[Lexi Morey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this book when I was in Arizona and just now read it. I love books that are letters back and forth, so I loved the format. The love story was really sweet and captured some of the desperation/consuming nature of a long-distance relationship. The ending was sad, though bc I like to think she could have loved the writer even though it wasn’t who she thought it was. 4 stars bc they didn’t have a chance for a happy ending.

[Alba · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel harsh making this novel 3 stars, it is quite good. However it did seem much of the novel was going nowhere, just endless whining from Delphine with no stop to it. However the writing within the novel was absolutely amazing, some of the best I’ve ever read, and the ending was a unexpected twist!

[Zuberino · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sustained exercise in epistolary erotica - with a very strange and unsettling (or even nasty and unpleasant) ending. However, for as long as the illusion lasted, the names Delphine Hav and Jean-Luc Foreur are worthy of being placed alongside those of Heloise and Abelard themselves.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een heel mooi beschreven luchtkasteel . . .
Ik las deze Deense briefroman in de Zweedse vertaling ' A Prioritaire' en kon me goed verplaatsen in de brieven en emoties van Delphine de vrouwelijke hoofdpersoon. Ik vond haar stijl en haar fantasieën ontroerend.

[Vaiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nesu skaičiusi daug laiškų formato knygų. Bet kiek skaičiau, jos man patiko. Jautiesi tarsi būtum savo močiutės jaunystės laikų susirašinėjimus radus ir dabar paknopstom skaitai juos parelelei galvoje kurdama paveikslus juos rašiusių žmonių.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

a tasty little morsel that looks into how being young and infatuated with someone, something, can take over one's life. who hasn't been young and obsessed so completely with an idea, completely out of touch with reality as it can be. i read it completely in one sitting, it was beautifully written.

[Okidoki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Men nej, intresserade mig inte för fem öre. Har kikat på slutet, det var inte så sensationellt.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

An underexplored twist on Cyrano de Bergerac and a perfect illustration of how deceptive the marriage of true but bodiless minds can be.

[Andrea Andersson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastisk! Läs!

[Rachel C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, low stress, entertaining enough to knock it out in one sitting

[paola · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 letto dal mio professore gli ultimi giorni di scuola ma lo segno come se lo avessi letto io. finale inaspettato :)

[Beatrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sono priva di peso per la nostalgia di un uomo che non conosco: di cui conosco la grafia, senza conoscerne la mano; di cui conosco le parole, senza conoscerne le labbra

Un romanzo epistolare che riesce ad essere nello stesso momento intenso e delicato, erotico e raffinato, colto e godibile. Mi ha ricordato molto Che tu sia per me il coltello di Grossman anche per stile e tematiche, con però nel personaggio di Delphine il tocco di un altro romanzo epistolare che ho amato molto, fin dal titolo, ovvero Le ho mai raccontato del vento del nord di Glattauer.
Proprio in quest'ultimo romanzo, l'autore sosteneva che "scrivere fosse come baciare, solo senza labbra". L'erotismo che pervade Per lettera è ben meno sottile, ma non per questo abbassa il tono complessivo del testo.
Lo stile di scrittura è infatti curato fin nel minimo dettaglio, ed è bello vedere nelle lettere scritte da Delphine e Jean-Luc dei piccoli dettagli che contribuiscono a distinguere i loro rispettivi autori.

Finale a sorpresa forse un po' affrettato, ma che comunque serve al suo scopo e fa quasi venire voglia di rileggere il libro in un'ottica completamente nuova.

[Concertgebouw93 · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** Attenzione: di seguito anticipazioni sulla trama (SPOILER) ***

Mi piacciono i romanzi epistolari o almeno i libri sulle lettere. Questo è breve e si legge tutto d'un fiato, e non manca il colpo di scena finale

[Heli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kannatti tarttua tähän täysin tuntemattomaan suuruuteen! Tai oikeastaan pienuuteen, sillä tämä on aika pikkuinen kirja. Jälleen kerran kiitos kirjaston vaihtuville teemanäyttelyille, joista tulee poimittua tällaisia hienouksia.

Suutelen postinkantajaa on kirjeromaani. Postia lähettelevät toisilleen tuntemattomat nuori nainen ja vähän vanhempi mies. Nainen on nähnyt miehen maalauksen näyttelyssä, ihastunut siihen ja päättänyt ilmoittaa ihailustaan taiteilijamiehelle, ja yllättäen mies vastaa. Ihailijakirjeenvaihto käy alati kiihkeämmäksi, ja neitokainen alkaa kärttää tapaamista. Loppuratkaisu on toisaalta pääteltävissä jo melko aikaisesta vaiheesta, toisaalta raikkaan yllättävä.

Todella ranskalainen kirja, vaikka onkin tanskalainen. :)