The Silence: An Anti-Novel and Absolutely the Very Last Protocol

http://msarki.tumblr.com/post/82884140529/the-silence-by-jens-bj-rneboe

The silence referred to, it is important to note, is the calm before the storm. For example, the eery quiet just before a hurricane. And this silence exists it seems for the somber hope present in the moments before a revolution.

Because there is no story to begin with, and the text at first appears boringly political in its talk of revolution, and the words go on and on in such a way that offers doubt for any hope of entertainment, still a reader such as myself buckles down and presses on. And before the reader knows it he, or she, is sucked in again to the marrow and excessively violent world of Jens Bjørneboe. It is nothing short of a miracle to me how his books show more fascinate, and The Silence is no exception.

Historical figures make their many appearances throughout the novel and their stories are told through the voice of a steady narrator at times unhinged by his life experience and given to bouts of heavy drinking and his own self-inflicted physical abuse. But the narrator manages still to prevail and the reader is rewarded with rich historical accounts of characters such as Columbus, Pizarro, and Cortez, ending with one of the best known and influential figures of the French Revolution Maximilien de Robespierre, the Incorruptible. The accounts of genocide are numerous and graphic in the Bjørneboe telling.

Esther Greenleaf Murer is the brilliant translator of this work and she offers an introduction to The Silence that is sufficient and superior to anything I might write about this book. Bjørneboe’s very last chapter is one of the best endings to a book I have ever read. I could not recommend this book more to all of humanity, both good and evil, the righteous and unrighteous among us, and the penetrating gaze made available for all of us to peer unflinchingly into the abyss where suffering has no end and pain has no meaning. show less

Se bokanmeldelser:

FRIHETENS ØYEBLIKK – BIND I (http://no.librarything.com/work/details/35589347 )
KRUTTÅRNET – BIND II (http://no.librarything.com/work/details/35589650 )
STILLHETEN – BIND III (http://no.librarything.com/work/details/35589777 )

"Stillheten" - tredje bind i trilologien "Bestialitetens historie"

I den tredje boka befinner rettstjeneren seg i Vest-Afrika, hvor han fører lange samtaler med araberen Ali. Temaet er alle grusomheten som den hvite mann har begått i den tredje verden.

Gjennom anekdoter og selvopplevde episoder belyser rettstjeneren det ondes problem, med kolonialiseringen fra Europas side i fokus. Rettstjeneren sliter med å bære den kunnskap og innsikt han har fått om all ondskapen i verden. Gjennom samtalene med Ali belyses Europas ondskap sett fra den såkalte tredje verdens ståsted. Europeisk tenkning og holdninger beskrives i seg selv som forbryterske og onde.

Selv om det spås at den tredje verden en gang kommer til å ta en grusom hevn på show more kolonistene, åpner Bjørneboe på slutten opp for at det er håp for det gode.

Jeg elsket denne boka i triologien, og gir den toppkarakter. Nils Ole Oftebro gjorde denne boken - og de to foregående - til stor litteratur og kunst for meg.

FRIHETENS ØYEBLIKK – BIND I (http://no.librarything.com/work/details/35589347 )
KRUTTÅRNET – BIND II (http://no.librarything.com/work/details/35589650 ) show less