The Good Hope

by William Heinesen

First published in 1964 The Good Hope won The Nordic Prize for Literature.
It is the first English translation of one of the greatest novels in the Danish language.
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The Good Hope is an epistolary novel based on the life of the Reverend Lucas Debes, a larger than life character called Peder Ba¸rresen in the novel. It tells a story of brutal oppression, poverty and terrible diseases, but also of resistance and of having the courage of one's convictions. It is a dramatic fantasy in which Heinesen's customary themes ― the struggle against evil, sectarianism, superstition and oppression ―emerge on a higher plane, set against the backcloth of the Faroe Islands in the 1690s.

The Good Hope is a masterpiece which took 40 years to write.

Genres: Fiction, Scandinavian Literature

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

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 When Heinesen heard rumours that he was to win the Nobel Prize he requested that his nomination be withdrawn, discussing his choice to write in Danish with a mixture of bitterness and regret: "Faroese was at one time held in low regard - it's fair to say that the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

[Collin Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This portrait of an imperfect if faithful pastor may seem exaggerated but nevertheless highlights important aspects of ministry.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lietuviskai - "Geroji viltis"

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

by Danish writer William Heinesen is an engaging epistolary novel set in Heinesen's home town of Tórshavn, Faroe Islands in the late seventeenth century. In the novel, Peder Børresen, a somewhat ne'er-do-well and disgraced pastor with a tendency for drunkenness, is assigned by the Danish realm to the last-chance outpost of Tórshavn to minister to the poor. There he encounters a brutal regime of self-serving thugs who control all aspects on the islands, handing out arbitrary punishments and humiliations to all who fall in their disfavor. As someone who defends the weak and powerless, it doesn't take long for Børresen to land on their list.

In long letters to his friend Jonas, Børresen describes his daily life among the very decent members of his parish, the bonds and friendships he is able to forge, but also the contemptible dealings of the corrupt "Gabel regime" and his ongoing battle to undermine and ultimately topple it.

I was never quite sure how much I could trust Børresen, as his rationales for those times that he slips back into drunkenness seem a bit too tidy and convenient. Doubt also arises as to his exact relationship to the prostitutes he takes in despite the unfailing probity of his depictions of these attachments.

Heinesen's style elegantly captures the sense of the more restrained modes of expression one would expect of the seventeenth century without bending the language to that time as Pynchon does in Mason & Dixon. As such, I found the narrative quite believable, and enjoyed the stately unfolding of this tale of the difficulties of remaining a decent, ethical person when surrounded by greed, narcissism, and cruelty.

[Miroslav Tomek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skvělá kniha ve skvělém překladu! Po dlouhé době jsem zažil pocit, že se od textu doslova nemohu odtrhnout.

[Tine Bjornlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pyha, det er hårdt arbejde at læse William Heinesen fra 1669. 😄

[Hans Peter Madsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

1965 er det eneste år, hvor Nordisk Råds Litteraturpris blev delt mellem to forfattere: svenske Olof Lagercrantz og færøske William Heinesen. På trods af at den vandt prisen, er Det gode håb nok ikke den roman, Heinesen huskes bedst for. Men det burde den være! For et mesterligt greb om det danske sprog og et brændende forsvar for samfundets svageste gør Det gode håb til en roman, der nu 56 år efter stadig er lige aktuel.

Læs hele anmeldelsen her: https://pristjek.org/2020/08/04/willi...

[Jan Kløvstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Presten Peder Børresen kjempar ein kamp mot formynderi og maktglade biskopar og andre somstyrer det færøyske samfunnet på 1700-talet. Og likevel er kvar linje like aktuell som prosessen av Kafka eller undertrykkinga av folk i mange land også i 2016. William heinesen fekk Nordisk råds litteraturpris for romanen.