Moder Syvstjerne

by William Heinesen

Henda søgan fer fram í Havn um aldamótið og er um kærleika av ymiskum slag: bæði millum gentu og drong, millum tilkomið fólk og millum móður og barn. Men eisini um hin dreymakenda longsulin hjá einum móðurleysum alva eftir horvnu mammu síni — og um droymandl tráan menniskjans eftir ævinleikanum.

136 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1952

About the author

William Heinesen is the best-known writer that the Faroe Islands have produced. He wrote mainly in Danish, but all of his books, which are set in the Faroe Islands, have been translated into his native Faroese. When Heinesen heard rumours that he was to win the Nobel Prize he requested that his nomination be withdrawn, discussing his choice to write in Danish with a mixture of bitterness and regret: "Faroese was at one time held in low regard - it's fair to say that the language was kept down. For all that, Faroese has generated remarkable literature, and it would have been right to award the Nobel Prize to an author who had written in Faroese. If I were given the prize, then a Danish writer would have got it, and Faroese literary endeavours would have been dealt a heavy blow". He died aged 91.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Jógvan Helge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sprøyt og skrøner frå ende til annan.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful prose. William Heinesen deserves his place in the nordic cultural canon, he reminds me of a Cormac Mccarthy in love with the world. Childlike (or post-psychedelic) beauty is found in everything in the dreamlike but mundane world. Smoke curls and dances in the moonlight, fireworks split the sky in near-apocalyptic passages, and well-meaning townsfolk are celebrated as primeval manifestations of Goodness. Very good.

[Jacob Østergaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hvis det kun var den sekvens, der bliver fortalt fra babyens perspektiv, jeg skulle rangere, ville det uden tvivl blive 5/5. Det er en meget enestående beskrivelse, som jeg tit vender tilbage til.

[Mark Svensson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg tænker ikke at så smukt formuleret en bog, med så mange dybe og væsentlige overvejelser kan tildeles mindre end topkarakter, omend jeg ikke påstår at have forstået alt hvad den beskæftiger sig med.

Der er mange smukke og maleriske sprogbilleder af livets faser, fra ungdommelig kådhed over livskriser og frem til døden. Hele vejen igennem tages der kritisk stilling til religionen og dens betydning, samt menneskers måde at udleve deres forståelse af religionen, som for nogle af bogen figurer bliver opslugende. Det eneste de længes efter er det næste liv, hvilket er sørgmodigt, i betragtning af bogens konstatering af at evigheden bestå i den menneskelige erindring.

Vi er summen af vores minder og de minder vi efterlader andre mennesker med.

[David Batchelor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. Incredibly imaginative with great descriptions. Picked it up completely randomly at the Library (I love the Scandinavian section!) and was very glad that I did.

[Birgit Alsinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very difficukt to describe. Beautiful story