What do you think?
Rate this book
Weary Men
With its angst-ridden, sensualist hero, Arne Garborg's classic, Weary Men, (Trætte Mænd) invites comparison with the classic European decadent novels of the turn of the century—Huysmans's Against the Grain and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Unlike the protagonists of those novels, however, the hero of Weary Men is treated with irony. And while it is a brilliant novel of ideas, Weary Men has endured primarily because of the acuity with which Garborg explores the roguish main character's psychological makeup.
Originally published in 1891, Weary Men introduces a bachelor nearly middle age named Gabriel Gram, who suffers an existential crisis, considers suicide, but finally finds solace in a religious conversion of questionnable sincerity. Garborg depicts Gram's Kristiania (present day Oslo) in fascinating detail as Gram divides his time between male friends and "new women," a new generation of Norwegian women embolded to walk freely with men in public but who continue to rebuff Gram's sexual advances.
Originally published in 1891, Weary Men introduces a bachelor nearly middle age named Gabriel Gram, who suffers an existential crisis, considers suicide, but finally finds solace in a religious conversion of questionnable sincerity. Garborg depicts Gram's Kristiania (present day Oslo) in fascinating detail as Gram divides his time between male friends and "new women," a new generation of Norwegian women embolded to walk freely with men in public but who continue to rebuff Gram's sexual advances.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1891
8 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Arne Garborg
89 books29 followersNorwegian writer Arne Evenson Garborg, born Aadne Eivindsson Garborg, championed the use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk, or New Norwegian), as a literary language; he translated the Odyssey into it. He founded the weekly Fedraheim in 1877, in which he urged reforms in many spheres including political, social, religious, agrarian, and linguistic.
His novels are profound and gripping while his essays are clear and insightful. He was never inclined to steer clear of controversy. His work tackled the issues of the day, including the relevance of religion in modern times, the conflicts between national and European identity, and the ability of the common people to actually participate in political processes and decisions.
His novels are profound and gripping while his essays are clear and insightful. He was never inclined to steer clear of controversy. His work tackled the issues of the day, including the relevance of religion in modern times, the conflicts between national and European identity, and the ability of the common people to actually participate in political processes and decisions.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 29, 2020
I wasn't the biggest fan of Trætte Mænd but it certainly had its moments. As one of the main works of fin de siècle in Norway it definitely represented all of the major characteristics of this period.
abandoned
January 22, 2020This slice of Norwegian decadence seemed promising at first, but I soon grew weary of this weary man's constant handwringing over his ambiguous relationship with a much younger woman. Perhaps he moves on from this in later pages, but I don't feel inclined to wait it out.
May 9, 2024
Being an incel in the 19th century:
A diary
A diary
September 22, 2024
Gabriel Jeronimus Gram goes through the motions of a flirtation but can't get past the angel/whore dichotomy: Fanny is too pure to dirty, unless she turns out to be like all the others. Additional characters include 1) the middle-aged spinster Mathilde Borgen, who might be worth marrying if it weren't for that wrinkle at the corner of her mouth; 2) George Jonathan, English positivist and rationalist; 3) Dr Kvaale, who makes a good living treating venereal diseases; 4) Pastor Lochen, who has replaced a zest for liquor with a priestly zest for life.
About two-thirds of the book is taken up with Gram's pinings and blamings, the typical incel line: women don't want nice guys like him because deep down they are all selling themselves. And he's the only one who can see through marriage, a lie in which everyone is complicit.
There are also some more-interesting ideas, such as that life is meant to be pain rather than contentment (boredom), the implications of materialism on the existence of the soul, creativity vs utilitarianism/rationality, the impulse to name and categorize, how conformity disguises itself as free will.
p 2: Friendship is the subtlest kind of selfishness [...] the end result is that each consumes the other, whereupon both chuck the other onto the bone heap. I can look back on many a skeleton that I have picked clean and thrown away at different stages of my life's journey; and I myself lie chewed up on several bone heaps, I can imagine.
p 22: Strange. To sail and sail and all the time know for certain that you won't ever reach port, but only that you'll spring a leak some night and go to the bottom [...] But since we are bound to go to the bottom anyway, why for God's sake do we lie tormenting ourselves with this voyage in the first place?
p 34: The good Lord, who pinned us onto life so that we should squirm for his greater glory, doesn't like to remove us from the pin until we have performed every squirming trick we possibly can. But by that time we've begun to feel almost comfortable on the point of our pin; for we can get used to anything, even to going on living.
p 35: Feeling bad in one way or another - longing, loss, pain, and worry - that's just what life is. It makes you do your utmost, fills the time, keeps your psychic mechanism going, breeds feelings, stirrings of the will, thoughts, energy, while being satiated and content - well, that is simply the end of everything.
p 41: 'Moral' is almost always synonymous with cowardly. I 'don't want to make her unhappy' means: I know that shell be unhappy in any case, but simply refuse any responsibility or trouble on my own account.
p 107: You have to possess a certain degree of vanity in order to love, a belief in the possibility of being loved in return.
p 116: Once the impossibility of a scientific explanation of the world has been recognized in its full depth, there will eventually come a moment when one must choose between madness and Christ.
p 144: What is intellect - other than a tiny, miserable lantern in the middle of a big, dark, labyrinthine attic?
p 178: I can understand someone who goes off and commits murder simply to consign to oblivion the little bit of tactlessness he was guilty of the other day; and more than once I have wished for the end of the world so that my stupidities could be destroyed at the same time. [...] [F]orgotten stupidities are like sunken corpses, one fine day they float up again. [...] Every time I hear that such a tiresome witness [to my stupidity] has gone to kingdom come, a stone is lifted from my heart.
p 234: [T]he river of faith, which is so shallow that a lamb can wade and so deep that an elephant can swim in it, flows tranquil and clear, and refreshingly pure.
About two-thirds of the book is taken up with Gram's pinings and blamings, the typical incel line: women don't want nice guys like him because deep down they are all selling themselves. And he's the only one who can see through marriage, a lie in which everyone is complicit.
There are also some more-interesting ideas, such as that life is meant to be pain rather than contentment (boredom), the implications of materialism on the existence of the soul, creativity vs utilitarianism/rationality, the impulse to name and categorize, how conformity disguises itself as free will.
p 2: Friendship is the subtlest kind of selfishness [...] the end result is that each consumes the other, whereupon both chuck the other onto the bone heap. I can look back on many a skeleton that I have picked clean and thrown away at different stages of my life's journey; and I myself lie chewed up on several bone heaps, I can imagine.
p 22: Strange. To sail and sail and all the time know for certain that you won't ever reach port, but only that you'll spring a leak some night and go to the bottom [...] But since we are bound to go to the bottom anyway, why for God's sake do we lie tormenting ourselves with this voyage in the first place?
p 34: The good Lord, who pinned us onto life so that we should squirm for his greater glory, doesn't like to remove us from the pin until we have performed every squirming trick we possibly can. But by that time we've begun to feel almost comfortable on the point of our pin; for we can get used to anything, even to going on living.
p 35: Feeling bad in one way or another - longing, loss, pain, and worry - that's just what life is. It makes you do your utmost, fills the time, keeps your psychic mechanism going, breeds feelings, stirrings of the will, thoughts, energy, while being satiated and content - well, that is simply the end of everything.
p 41: 'Moral' is almost always synonymous with cowardly. I 'don't want to make her unhappy' means: I know that shell be unhappy in any case, but simply refuse any responsibility or trouble on my own account.
p 107: You have to possess a certain degree of vanity in order to love, a belief in the possibility of being loved in return.
p 116: Once the impossibility of a scientific explanation of the world has been recognized in its full depth, there will eventually come a moment when one must choose between madness and Christ.
p 144: What is intellect - other than a tiny, miserable lantern in the middle of a big, dark, labyrinthine attic?
p 178: I can understand someone who goes off and commits murder simply to consign to oblivion the little bit of tactlessness he was guilty of the other day; and more than once I have wished for the end of the world so that my stupidities could be destroyed at the same time. [...] [F]orgotten stupidities are like sunken corpses, one fine day they float up again. [...] Every time I hear that such a tiresome witness [to my stupidity] has gone to kingdom come, a stone is lifted from my heart.
p 234: [T]he river of faith, which is so shallow that a lamb can wade and so deep that an elephant can swim in it, flows tranquil and clear, and refreshingly pure.
December 13, 2023
Gabriel Gram skulle hatt en smule mer rizz tbh. Low key incel.
November 21, 2025
Uten tvil noe av det beste jeg har lest
August 11, 2011
Til alle som har innbilt seg at Garborg er gammeldags eller at livet var betraktelig annerledes på slutten av 1800-tallet: les denne!
Read
September 9, 2025Bok i litteraturgruppen, men valgt av meg. Jeg leste den da jeg tok litteraturvitenskap mellomfag, men husket vel ikke så mye. Hovedpersonen er vel, selv om alder ikke nevnes direkte , men han føler seg gammel. Han lengter etter kjærligheten, har noen platoniske forhold, men har ogsåen prostituert han går til. Det er mye diskusjon om kjærlighet og ekteskap. Ellers virker han ganske alkoholisert, sitter mye på kafeen på Grand. Økonomien holder kanskje ikke til et borgerlig ekteskap da han kun har en underordnet statlig assistentstilling som ikke engasjerer ham spesielt mye. På slutten av boka begår en av hans nærmeste venner selvmord. Så er slutten interessant. Gabriel Gram vender seg mot religionen. Valget er mellom «vanviddet og religionen» sier han. En desperat tro?
June 4, 2020
4½.
"'Suffering is also pleasure,' Jonathan says; "it is to life what salt is to food!" That may be true for the healthy person, whose sufferings are consequently neither particularly deep nor especially long-lasting -- passing squalls ... that only make the ensuing sunshine that much more beautiful. But it is not true for him to whom suffering is the norm. Not for him who is made in such a way that he can enjoy happiness only negatively, i.e., he feels the loss when it vanishes but not the happiness when it is present. To him suffering is not salt with food, but wormwood in his cup; it's not just bitter in itself but also changes the joy into bitterness."
"'Suffering is also pleasure,' Jonathan says; "it is to life what salt is to food!" That may be true for the healthy person, whose sufferings are consequently neither particularly deep nor especially long-lasting -- passing squalls ... that only make the ensuing sunshine that much more beautiful. But it is not true for him to whom suffering is the norm. Not for him who is made in such a way that he can enjoy happiness only negatively, i.e., he feels the loss when it vanishes but not the happiness when it is present. To him suffering is not salt with food, but wormwood in his cup; it's not just bitter in itself but also changes the joy into bitterness."
April 27, 2020
Jeg: Hvis der er en kvinde som skammer sig over at have fået et barn, så fortjener hun at ga til helvede.
Taushed.
*
«Optimister - hvad er egentlig det for noget ?»
«Nå, folk som tror pa det gode i livet, det godes seir osv.; som i det hele taget synes at verden er bra.»
Taushed.
*
«Optimister - hvad er egentlig det for noget ?»
«Nå, folk som tror pa det gode i livet, det godes seir osv.; som i det hele taget synes at verden er bra.»
July 18, 2025
«De trætte går til præsten»
April 18, 2016
If I wanted to read the diary of some melodramatic, slightly depressed crazy, I would write and read my own. But - shocker - I don't!
This was a rough novel to get through without relying mostly on skimming. The general lack of a narrative, the Hamsun-esque stream of conscience narrative - really not my thing. The only redeeming quality of Weary Men was that it was just so damn quoteable.
This was a rough novel to get through without relying mostly on skimming. The general lack of a narrative, the Hamsun-esque stream of conscience narrative - really not my thing. The only redeeming quality of Weary Men was that it was just so damn quoteable.
February 11, 2025
Ops! Gløymde heilt at Goodreads eksisterte. Las ferdig like ved årsskiftet 🤪
(Masterlitteraturen)
(Masterlitteraturen)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews