Der Kälberich

by Leif Høghaug

On violence, crime, guilt and atonement.


We meet our narrator in an underground office where he sharpens pencils, shreds paper, makes coffee for the other employees and thinks over and over about a late night that he has been trying to forget for a long time. In between the meaningless work, he manages to scratch down some names and phrases, and conjures up a dream from 1980s Hadeland. In this saga, Hadeland is a shadow home where spooks, ghosts, angels and robot-like creatures are just as natural as animals and flesh and blood humans.


But what happened that late summer night? What is it that the narrator has tried to forget? And who is this Calf, who was “killed to death”? Our narrator takes readers in circles through different events, times and places; a whirlwind in which the calf and other characters are like prisoners in a tornado from Dante’s Inferno.


The Calf is a peasant story, a western novel, a dream quatrain, an adventure, science fiction and a black comedy about violence, crime, guilt and atonement.

Genres: Literature

278 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Matthias Friedrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one of those "Great Untranslated":

Honestly, I don't know what exactly what I've read here. But this is a crazy mix of William Faulkner's narration techniques, Dante Alighieri's underworld, James Joyce's stream of consciousness, even Homer's Ilias comes to mind, Science Fiction, Western, fairy tales, and, maybe most important, a novel written in the Norwegian Hadeland dialect which is not as obscure as it might sound. The most difficult task though is to add the events together. The narrator is highly idiosyncratic and not very reliable.

[Cloglover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable. Challenging and labyrinthine pseudo western, pushing the boundaries of plot, meaning, and most importantly, language. The book is an exercise is in translation, written by a translator, falling somewhere in between Joyce and Faulkner. Must read for fans of experimental lit, avant-garde translation, gnome marionettes, moon women, and critters. In that order.

Read my full review here

https://wp.me/pcQKQM-1l

[Christina Dongowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Cowboys vs. Aliens-Heimat-Krimi mit einem Erzähler, der als Bürogehilfe in einer Hades-artigen, an Kafkas Schloß erinnernden Großraumbüro-Unterwelt arbeitslebt, in die er von einer Mondfrau (Helene = Selene) geschickt worden ist, wo er, anscheinend angeregt durch das viele, leichentuchßweiße Papier, das er eigentlich nur makulieren soll, das zentrale, ihn als Low-Tech-Automatenmensch / Vogelscheuchen-Blechmann-Hybrid zurücklassende, Verdrängte / verschüttete Erlebnis seiner Jugend rekonstruiert. Er braucht dafür sehr viele Anläufe, ihm fehlt die Sprache dafür, die Sprache bricht unter der Last dessen, was zu sagen & zu fühlen wäre, zusammen. Er stottert, wiederholt, rekapituliert, rekonstruiert seine Erinnerungen, die temporalen Bezüge fliegen immer wieder durcheinander, aber ganz am Schluss, ist dann doch sehr klar, was passiert ist (was ich hier aber nicht spoilere.) Was sich anfangs liest wie ein spätavantgardistisches L’Art pour l‘art-Stückchen, entwickelt dann sehr schnell einen erstaunlichen erzählerischen Sog & psychologische Stimmigkeit, durch die man auch bei den kalauerskesten Passagen bei der Stange bleibt. Høghaug hat hier einen intensiven & trotzdem lesbaren Text über die Krankheit Männlichkeit, & wie sie die Seelen & Körper ihrer Träger zerfrisst, geschrieben. Für die sorgfältigen Arbeit des Übersetzers Matthias Friedrich, der das in ein glaubwürdiges deutsches 80er-Jahre-Fantasy-Idiom gebracht hat, habe ich nichts als Bewunderung. Ich empfehle sehr, sein Nachwort auf jeden Fall zu lesen.

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

book release of the year for me. a stunning achievement. the centrepiece of the 2025 ambitious literary translation triptych beside attila & schattenfroh.

[Andy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire this writing, and the translation is indeed a feat, but it doesn’t make for an easy read. The narrator speaks in a dialect of Norwegian from the southeast, a strong accent if you prefer. It must have been a huge challenge for David Smith, the translator. However, as a story, I don’t think it really works.

[Trevor Arrowood · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Calf is an utterly insane book that somehow artfully deals with trauma while intermingling a “meckanickal” barn gnome narrator, aliens, two-headed trolls, while all being written in a southern-Appalachian dialect (translated from a Norwegian dialect that operates similarly in elisions and weird compound words/portmanteaus)
I enjoyed the book, but the Translator’s Note at the end was fascinating as well. This is especially because the original Norwegian author is currently translating Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake to Norwegian. And apparently The Calf has moments that are reminiscent of the infamous Wake.
Wild, wacky, entertaining, and yet profound. At least give The Calf a try!

[Yahaira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Deep Vellum and Fum d'Estampa for the gifted copy.

The Calf first caught my eye when I saw it described as a freaky book. Then I saw that Chad Post is including it in his World Lit in Translation course, describing it as either a genius move or an outrageous miss. I NEEDED to know.

I get it now.

A book that is McCarthy via Faulkner via rural Norway, which mixes genres like sci-fi, horror, the western, and mystery a la Rodrigo Fresan, with a stream of consciousness narration from a “meckanickal” barn gnome working in an underground office is a lot! It’s challenging and ambitious and could have totally fallen off a cliff but somehow it managed to stay the course. All I can say is that this was one of the most unique reading experiences I've had in a long time.

I originally wrote that I had a blast reading this, and I definitely did, but then I felt weird saying that right before I mention this is about trauma, memory, and, dare I say, masculinity. It’s darkly comedic in the best way possible. You’re going in circles, time and memories get jumbled, as this gnome is trying, and resisting, to remember a night back in the 80s with his gang of friends known as the “cowboys”. Language fails him. The deeper you go, the more you want to find out what happened to these boys and you start to wonder if they did something or even if any of this is real. You’re on tenterhooks as the fog of memory slowly lifts.

Language is at the center of this book. When you first open the book you think ‘dear god, what did I get myself into’. But only a few pages in I acclimated to the writing. I actually wish there was an audiobook available, not to speed through it but to hear the cadence and rhythm off the page. The way the MC goes in and out of his story makes you feel like you’re being told a tale rather than merely reading. The translation using an Appalachian dialect, along with mixing American with Norwegian references, adds so many layers to the reading experience. I love that Smith not only translated the words and style as he saw fit, but he also created a similar experience to what Norwegian readers got.

If you get this PLEASE read the afterword (and the following glossary). It adds so much from Smith's perspective and how he handled and chose to go about this translation. It pretty much shows you why Al will never achieve this level of work.

[Andrew Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Respect. Didn't love. Translation ended more than a gimmick which was cool. Belt notch