LARS SAABYE CHRISTENSEN. THE SIMPLE SYMMETRY OF THE TRIPLE JUMP

Abstract

The latest addition into Voprosy Literatury’s new section, ‘Only children’s books to read...’, this article by T. Solovyova takes a close look at works by the contemporary author L. S. Christensen, widely popular well beyond his native Norway. Christensen owes his fame to his deep yet unobtrusive psychologism, the ability to present children with a comprehensible picture of the story (or history, as his novels play out in a broad historical concept), as well as the motives and feelings of the characters. Such features of his writing style are displayed in his novels The Half Brother [Halvbroren] (2004), Chasm [Sluk] (2014), and Herman (2017), which combine stories about contemporary teenagers with an expansive historical background, familiarizing young readers with the major facts and tragedies of the 20th century. The critic analyses Christensen’s creative method, looking for mainstream elements typical of modern children’s books, as well as for the author’s unique touches.