War's unwomanly face by Svetlana Alexievich

Svetlana Alexievich has interviewed countless people during many years, to describe the soul of the Soviet Union, in her series "Voices from the Big Utopia". She received the Nobel price in literature in 2015. In this book, two hundred women speaks of the time during the war. How they fought the enemy, how they rescued wounded soldiers, and how they themselves fired sniper’s rifle, bombed and killed. They had learned to hate, but even during the darkest of times, their hearts loved, and they saved not only their own, but German soldiers as well. Svetlana Alexievich collects these stories and makes art.

This book really affected me. It feels like I have been there, at the front, among the soldiers. 
Together, they make a choir of voices, and I wonder whether it’s easier to understand the reality of that time from one single person’s testimony, or through the fabric of many memories. The book is full of strong voices that have been silent for forty years. It was time the emotional shards, the human destinies, were told.

This is not a hero book. This book is not focusing on the winning of the war, but on the reality during and after the war. The women's stories are colorful. They remembered feelings and details, and they never stopped appreciating beauty and art. Some refused to change from their dresses, others slept with their earrings, while yet others slept while sitting up to be able to wear hats as long as possible. Because, in daytime, everything that was considered female was forbidden.

Surprisingly many young women volunteered to fight at the front. At a very young age, they convinced their parents to be allowed to participate, or escaped from their homes to join the army and be sent to the front. The loyalty to their country was immense, and more important than their families. It was not only the young girls dreams. Some of the parents even wanted their young daughters to join the army. It's difficult to understand their enormous devotion. Their team spirit and companionship. It's a big difference between communism and today's individualism, and it's interesting to learn about a totally different perspective of live.

One might think that women’s part of the war indicates some gender equality, but even though women were allowed to join the army, the men treated them far from equal, and used all kinds of excuses to justify their behavior. Their view of these women became very clear after the war, when many of them didn't want to marry a woman soldier, and even despised them. Half a million women sacrificed everything, and when returning from the war, they were forgotten. And while the male soldiers were received as heroes, the female soldiers were viewed as unfeminine and unattractive. I want to remember everyone. It’s difficult to explain, but I feel like I owe them that. They have been alone with their feelings for a very long time, abandoned by the society after the war. The least I can do is to listen to them, and remember them. She who made herself a white dress of a German parachute and married her love before a battle. She who let her daughter carry a bomb. She who drowned her own baby to not be found by the German soldiers. She who kissed her husband for the very last time. She who gave the enemy bread. She who was captured and tortured. She who still can’t handle the color red. She who came home and realized her child didn’t recognize her. She who returned home and found her own grave. And many more.

They all deserve to be remembered. This book makes them as invincible and immortal as they once were.

Night by Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel was fifteen years old when he and his family, living in Romania, were placed in a ghetto and then deported to Auschwitz, and later Buchenwald. He lost his entire family in the concentration camp and it's painful to read, knowing that would happen. He became A-7713, and eventually he did loose his identity. 

He portrays the dehumanization process very well. How the SS officers treated the people, reduced them and made them forget their value. When confronted by the evil of men, the prisoners loosed their identity. Wiesel watched people stop caring about their families, leaving them. He thought it horrible. It seems that many people went through a major transformation, not only physically, but psychiologically, as well. They handled such strong feelings, and eventually, they run out of them, or they become immune. Perhaps it was a defence mechanism. Wiesel describes a situation where everyone was struggling to survive, every man for himself. No one could afford to care much about anyone else. It takes you one step closer to get a glimpse of how life was during that time. Sons stopped caring about their fathers. People fighting, even killing, for a piece of bread. Eventually, when Wiesel's father was getting weaker, he realized that he had become one of them, an unbearable thought. It's terrible to read about. I understand his thoughts, but I think he really tried. He managed to not be separated from his father, but remained with him for eight months. They worked under unbearable, excruciating circumstances, and he tried to help and support his father, but admits he failed. It is one of the most heart-breaking parts of the book. After seeing his father changing, starving and suffering from dysentery, he realized that he couldn't help him, and even if he could, he didn't have the energy to do it, which made him ashamed. Wiesel is very honest to admit this about himself.

The prisoners weren't treated as human beings. They had no dignity, nothing left. It's very well portrayed how exhaustion and hunger might change a person, take away his will to help people and even his will to live. Living in such a world, Wiesel lost his will to survive, his faith and his innocence. Even on liberation day, people didn't think about revenge. They just wanted bread.

After the war, Elie Wiesel has worked as a professional journalist and international correspondent, devoted himself to political activism, tried to join underground movements, and started the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. For ten years after the war, he refused to talk about his time in the concentration camps. After a conversation with an author, he changed his mind, and wrote the 900-pages memoir And the world remained silent, which was later shortened and named Night. A film director approached Wiesel and suggested to make a movie based on the book, but he refused, claiming that a movie would destroy his story, which needed the silence between the words. In 1986, he received the Nobel Peace Price, and his acceptance speech is in this book. Despite all his achievements, Wiesel has asked himself if he has done enough. That makes me sad and ashamed. The least I can do is to read this book, trying to understand people's experiences during the holocaust, and promise to never forget.

Before being taken to Auschwitz, many people weren't able to believe in the final solution. There were some rumors, but they didn't think that such a thing could happen in modern time. The idea of an entire people, wiped out, was absurd and impossible to understand. Wiesel faced the truth when coming to Auschwitz and seeing the crematorium. It's still very difficult to comprehend that millions of people were wiped out. This book is so important, not only because it's about the holocaust, but also because of the humble, personal way it is written that somehows emphasizing the horror and the structures of evil.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Being one of the most famous plays through all time, Romeo and Juliet still captivates readers and audiences around the world. This is a fine example of the fact that time doesn't really have to change us. We can still understand and identify with great stories from a long time ago. Romeo and Juliet is a play that centers around forbiddem love between two young, rebellious people. But the play is much more than that.

There are some parts that would need some explaining. The reason for the long lasting war between the families is never explained. Perhaps it's not important, but it would be interesting to know what caused this hate. Another detail is the age of the star-crossed lovers. They are so young. Is it possible to know and understand love at that age? Especially when just having met the person? Romeo seems to have been as romantically absorbed just some days earlier, and he got over Rosaline fast. Could it, in fact, be more about sexual attraction than real love? Or is that to destroy on of the most romantuc plays of all time? Just some thoughts.

Never the less, it is a strong play with so much emotion and a wonderfully written. It alternates between different forms, some of it rhyme. Those parts are really beautiful. Although, I think some of the beauty gets lost in the translation of such a work. This is a new Swedish translation, and some words just seem misplaced. Even though the prose evolves and changes through time, it still has to fit into a 16th century enivronment.

Everything happens so fast, which is rather common for plays. Deciding to kill, die or love takes a fraction of a second. Why not think everything through for a while? It would have been nice with more of the inner dialogues to follow the characters thoughts leading to their decision. I have not seen the play on stage, perhaps it's different.

This play is about so much more than unconditional love. It is about a difficult world with tough love. It is about parents that choose their daughter's future, and it is about refusing to live one's life on others' terms. Most of all, it is, although tragically and at a very high price, about choosing independence. This play comes alive and really moves and affecte its readers. Perhaps because it is easy to understand the young couple's difficulty that drives them out of this world. It tells us much about women as properties and merchandise, and the consequences when ignoring their opinions and needs. In one way, it is still relevant. Many parents still have their children's future decided even before they really know them. Perhaps it is to take over the family business, going to college or marry someone from the same country or religion. Romeo and Juliet defy their destinies, and take power over them.

A commentary chapter contains a discussion by the translator about underlying themes and structures of the book, including the balance between the families, this rivalty about power. The peace of Verona rests upon this symmetry - almost like a stalement - where none of the families can win. A marriage between Juliet, a Capulet, and Paris, a relative of the emperor, would brake the power balance between the Capulets and the Montagues. Romeo's and Juliet's love, born from hate between their families, is what finally restore peace in Verona. That is what is tragic and beautiful. Two young people are sacrificed on the altar of peace.

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck

Imagine living in the darkest of places. Imagine that the only people for miles are people you don't know, yet. The character Maija moves to a small settlement in Lappland, Sweden, with her family and they are just beginning to get to know the people in the area when a murder is commited. Then, Maija's husband has to leave for the coust to find work, leaving her and their two children alone.

Sweden is a spectacular, mesmerizing country. In the summer, the midnight sun lights both day and night, painting the beautiful nature in more vivid colours than the brightest fairytale. The grass and wild forests are intensely green, the sea is dark blue and the air is crisp and the sun warms it all. In the winter, the sun hardly reaches above the horizon. There is constant darkness, apart from a short while at noon. The snow falls heavy and everything is white, a contrast to the black sky and the colorful, dansing northen light.

Ekbäck's descriptions of the landscape and forces of nature are very colourful. It's not a traditional fast-paced crime novel, at all. The book is slow at times but is necessary to deal with tensions and feelings as well as an atmosphere of superstition and the supernatural, and for them to give an impression. The exterior reflects the characters' isolation and inner struggle. The book gets more and more interesting because of the portrayal of 18th century Sweden. How difficult it must have been for a lonely woman to fight for her family's survival. 

Ekbäck wanted to write about an interesting time period. Superstition and the belief in the supernatural remained to some extent from an early period. The people living around Svartåsen fear the powers of the mountain, thinking it can breath and make horrible things happen. What's more, in the year of 1717, the wound was still fresh from the witch hunts, and people's fear still remained, it seems - a faith that wasn't as strong as the church, but still a belief. The author uses this theme. Was it some kind of comfort believing in these things, when the situation was so bad? The early 18th century changed the very foundation of life for the people. Sweden was at war and men were forced to leave their families to fight for their country. According to the author, around a third of the population – 1,5 million people – were killed. The king raised the taxes to be able to finance the war, the plague hunted people, and as if that wasn't enough, some years of bad harvest made the people starve. In this situation, Maija is left alone with her children in the middle of nowhere, in the darkness, near a few farms and a secret. She begins to investigate the murder and soon realizes that it's not the only strange thing. The secret might be covering more than the murder mystery.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The novel was published 1873-1877 in The Russian Messenger. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vladimir Nabokov and William Faulkner were all very impressed by it. Faulkner even claimed it to be the best work ever written.

The meeting of two women will irrevocably change their lives forever. When Anna Karenina gets to know Kitty Shcherbatskaya, she also gets the chance to know her acquaintance Vronsky. Kitty, on the other hand, has to get to know herself before knowing who she should get to know. The two women are the very opposites of each other but after this day they both begin to transform. The graceful Anna is destined to condemnation and the childish Kitty is destined to insightfulness - give or take a few years. It’s not until then that their true destiny can be revealed.

To follow the conventions of the time was essential, and much of the unhappiness in the book is due to the common view. In this way, the characters are trapped in the conventions of society and people's expectations, not free to make their own choices. Not until they decide to stop caring. Perhaps Karenin isn’t more unhappy than the society forces him to be. Perhaps Kitty’s feelings for a man that suites the aristocracy are not her own feelings. How do one know what’s true and what’s not when constantly affected by one’s environment? To what extent do people’s expectations around us influence us? This shows Tolstoy’s opinion of the higher social levels of society. He was himself apart of it, and didn’t like it. The character Anna, on the other hand, sacrifices not only being part of society but other things as well for the life she wants to live. It seems women often had to make these decisions. In a world of hypocrisy, Anna's brother, Oblonsky, is constantly unfaithful to his wife, while Anna’s situation makes her fall from grace. She is banned from the very same circles that receive both her brother and lover. 

Anna, a kind of feminist of her time, builds up a facade of indifference and seductive charm. Holding her head high, refusing to accept herself as a condemnd, fallen, disgraced woman, she is fighting with all the means accessible to her. Being dependent of a man outside marriage is slowly poisoning her. Behind the facade, her world is beginning to fall apart. Is it really possible for love to rise above social conditions?

Tolstoy writes in a magnificent way. Many themes are masterfully spreading a light over the Russian society in a very interesting time. Discussions about industrialization, agriculture, politics, education and religion reveal a country on the verge of turmoil. Parts of Russia wanted the country to Europeanize, while others wanted it to maintain its traditional values. There was an identity crisis, where the population spoke French while at the same time discussed what it meant to be russian. Russia was torn between people wanting to overthrow the tsar, while others wanted to industrialize agriculture for the country to become as modern as the west. All this is explained through the eyes of the characters. It’s fascinating to feel the dissatisfaction boiling beneath the surface, thriving and growing, the beginning of which would finally escalate into the Russian revolution.

Every chapter feels necessary to get to know and understand the characters. The only flaw is the sometimes long, tedious parts. Even though Levin with his existential philosophic pondering - not unlike Tolstoy himself - is a favorable character, the mowing was really tiresome. It can't be necessary to know so much about mowing. It isn’t even interesting in the first place. But Levin comes alive and shines in the presence of hard work with his peasents. In line with his own book where he describes that a man is influenced by his surroundings, he is himself influenced. When in town, he becomes a different person, but in the country he is always Levin.

What makes Tolstoy’s characters so convincing? Perhaps their tendency to be totally convinced at one time, and doubting the next. To be totally in love with someone, and the next moment not really sure. To be cynical, and from a sudden inspiration see people’s goodness. Their personalities are floating like waves in the sea, indefinite forms, evolving, changing, but never altering shapes. Tolstoy was a master when it came to character development. All these vivid contradictory characteristics make them human. They come alive before the reader's eyes. Anna with her perseverance and fear of abandonment, Karenin with his emotional torments and vengeful manner, Vronsky with his struggle of feelings and lack of understanding family bonds, Kitty with her naivety and attentiveness, Levin with his humanity and fits of jeolusy and despair, Varenka with her goodness and inspirational manner, Dolly with her endurance and indulgence, and Oblonsky with his love of women and way of giving advice.

In the center of it all stands Anna and Vronsky. We get to see a relationship from the first innocent glance, to a flourishing relationship, and to the final destruction. Anna and Vronky tear their relationship apart by circumstances caused by conventions. The contrast between the two main couples is strong. While one is evolving and prospering, the other is falling apart.

Time Magazine’s J. Peder Zane, along with William Faulkner, considers it to be the best book ever written. I think it’s definitely a must read for everyone that is in the least interested in a time of change, character development caused by internal but also external factors, and how it intertwine with human destiny. Not only does the book paint a picture of the former Russian society like a theater, where people have different roles to play on stage, judged by their appearance rather than their personal, authentic goodheartedness, and how this leads to one of the world's greatest love tragedies. It can also, with a little imagination, with a little imagination, be applied to the society of today.

Ali, the cairene merchant by unknown author

Ali, the cairene merchant is belonging to the epic One thousand and one night stories that were collected for several hundred years in the middle ages.

This is a tale involving treasures and destinies. When the young Ali has wasted away his inheritance, he leaves his family in a safe place and embarks on a quest. Eventually, courage earns him not only one but two fortunes. Naturally, there's a king and a princess thrown in there, as well. Rather entertaining.

Theses stories give insight into the eastern culture in the middle ages. Even though most of it is fiction, the culture back then probably influenced the tales. It's interesting to discover fragments of how these countries looked like and functioned. The society seems to have been very harsh and unfair, especially towards women and slaves. They were often treated worse than animals. Another matter worth mentioning is the rich culture back then, which is fascinating since it consisted of many fragments that originated before the time of Islam, such as magic and mythical creatures.

Abu Muhammed the Sluggard by unknown author

One thousand and one night is a collection of Asian stories and folktales from around the middle ages, collected over several centuries. The initial story that serves as introduction to the tales is about a Persian ruler, Shahryar. After being betrayed by his wife and thinking all women are bad, he takes a new wife every day and executes her the morning after. Then, he marries Scheherazade, who tells stories for 1001 nights, leaving him in suspense every morning so he will keep her alive to the next night. After 1001 nights, he has regained his trust in women and lets Scheherazade live.

Abu Muhammed the Sluggard is one of the One thousand and one night stories. The character Abu Muhammed has a great adventure, involving a voyage, a monkey, and supernatural creatures like jinn and marids.

The story is entertaining, but it's short, and it would have been nice to read more about the characters and what is on their mind. The story has a moral message, and the purpose is not evolved characters, but it's difficult to imagine a character that loves someone, and in the next second, threatens to murder the same person. 

The injustice is immense. Even though it is written so long ago, during a certain culture, it's still irritating that no one seems to care about the slaves or the fate of the women. They are treated as if they have no human value, given away as merchandise or rewards.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

"The Luminaries" is a world of history with a magical atmosphere and timeless human destinies. The novel is taking place during the gold rush in New Zealand, where no one is flawless and nothing is as it seems. The character Walter Moody is coming to Hokitika, a town on the west cost, in 1866 to dig for gold. In the hotel he meets twelve men from different levels of society without, apparently, too much in common. He thinks the men are there for a reason, and are very aware of his presence, because they seem to try a little too hard to not react and notice him when he enters the door. Details such as a man reading a book, but never turning the pages, is creating a suspicious and strange atmosphere.

Eleanor Catton was born in 1985 i Canada, but the family moved to New Zealand. She earned the Man Booker Prize for the book in 2013, with two records - she is the youngest prizewinner, with the thickest book.

"The Luminaries" is about som incidents - a man, found dead in his home with a fortune, the disappearance of a rich man, and a prostitute, almost killed by too much opium. Letters to unknown relatives, dresses with gold and other secrets are telling a complicated story. In a small society, no one is left unaffected by these events, and suspicion is growing.

The book is reminding of Agatha Christie's locked room-style, where the guilty is among a number of people, all known to the reader. There are twenty characters with different professions such as politician, opium dealer, journalist, priest, goldsmith, pimp and prostitute. They all contribute with pieces to the puzzle, but the characters are complex. Different sides of their personalities are shown, constantly, depending on the first person narrative. Catton's world is hard and the characters are flawed as a result. There are many psychological factors and destinies, as timeless as convincing. Thus, the book is so much more than a mystery and an investigation.

To show characteristics from different perspective is an interesting style, to make the story evolve. Catton is using different time periods to reveal clues, and intertwines people and events perfectly. She uses time for the dramaturgy in an impressive way. The reader has to keep up when the characters secrets are hinted at and the story unfolds. The key is what the secrets might imply.

The novel is carefully crafted, and Catton's master degree in creative writing is not surprising, at all. She has a unique style and frames the story in a unique way, beginning every chapter with the characters zodiac signs and connection to the planets of the solar system, something that obviously reveals parts of the characters personalities if you are competent in astrology. To place the story in history is giving the book yet another dimension, considering prose and expressions, something Catton is a master of. Catton manages the historical technique and tone. The book resembles a 1800's novel on a wast series of levels. However, the difference is that novels back then had morals and she doesn't moralize. She is objective to everything from corruption to prostitution. 

However, the book demands something from the reader. To be able to get the broad spectrum of the story, a concentrated, attentive and active reader is needed. There are many characters and time periods to remember. It's more than 1100 pages. Nevertheless, it doesn't feel heavy.

What's interesting is that despite it taking place in the 1800's, the themes about human destinies like loneliness, abuse and the fact that we are products of our surroundings are timeless. The result is a special reading experience.

The Viking Experience by Marjolein Stern and Roderick Dale

This is a very interesting story about the Viking age, an era that is full of myths and rumours. The Vikings were ruthless people with unique craftmanship. They went on long journeys with wood boats and managed to conquer many lands.

They discovered and settled in foreign places such as Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. They settled in Ireland and this early trading place later became Dublin. Before that, there were no cities there. Around 1000 A.D. they discovered North America, which they called Vinland, that today are parts of Canada. The word ”discover” is of course difficult. Just as Columbus, ”discovered” America around 500 years later, the Vikings simply took Vinland and these other places, occupying them. For the sake of argument, there is also a theory about an Irish monk that might have reached North America as early as the sixth century. Unfortunately, the people already living in these places didn't count when European self-appointed leaders with imaginary warrants turned up.

The Swedish Vikings set out for the east, to Byzantium. Among the late tenth century guards of the Byzantine emperor, many of the elite fighters were Scandinavian, the Varangian guard. They even carved their names into the big church Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

But the Vikings were not only brutal warriors. They were intelligent people. They used a compass made of wood and a piece of crystal to navigate and locate the sun during bad weather. They used hundreds of ships when concuring places around the world. Cnut had 93 ships and ruled an empire that consisted of Denmark, England, Norway, Orkney and south western Sweden. There seem to have been a great exchange of information and cultural traditions. Cnut introduced Danish culture to England and at the same time, many of the Danish words of church organisation are English in origin.

The most fascinating part of the book is where the authors explain the true identity of the Vikings. Most of the time, they seem to have lived a quiet life, away from battle. Most of the Viking Age Scandinavians were farmers. After their raids they came home and tended to their farms. They were more civilized and sophisticated then they usually get credit for. The oldest evidence for a Viking Age legal system is the Forsa rune ring from the ninth century, from Hälsingland, Sweden. Women were independent, owing and inheriting landed property, and able to marry and divorce. Burials indicate that some women were cult leaders, prophetesses and sorceresses. The book contains many pictures of beautiful objects, such as carefully crafted jewellery. Children toys have been found, and objects indicate that the adults played board games, sports, and those from a high social strata were hunting. The Vikings were intellectuals, and appreciated storytelling and poety. There were skalds, poets, appreciated especially by the kings.

The Vikings believed in the gods Odin, Thor, Frey and Freyja. Everyone in Sweden have heard of the Viking spirituality and there is still jewellery with Thor's hammer to buy. There was also a belief in giants, trolls and the underworld. Mythological poems called the Eddic poems had their roots in the Viking poems and were recorded onto vellum later in the Middle Ages. Other poems were about kings, battles and every day life, written by these skalds, professional poets. Many of the Icelandic sagas originate from the Viking age. Eventually, Scandinavia became Christianized, but it took a while. The conversion period took the longest in Sweden, which was Christianized as late as in the thirteenth century.

What's special about the book is that all the facts and information about the era don't feel heavy. Text and pictures make the story come alive. It's exciting to be able to come close to a people that have lived and ruled over a great number of lands, more a thousand years ago. There are many photographs of excavations of Viking settlements and culture, as well as small envelopes with pieces of copies of old manuscripts and maps, one of which shows where Vinland, North America, was discovered. These objects are pieces, drawing the reader into the story.

This is a wonderful book that gives insight into a lost world, a mythical world and a historical world. In the nineteenth century, the interest grew and the modern Viking was born. The interest was much due to the national romanticism of the time. Unfortunately, much research has had to be reinvestigated and changed because of untruthful theories, such as the one wrongfully claiming they drank from the skulls of their beaten enemies. But perhaps the misinterpretations and misconceptions have served as fueling the fire of interest around the world. Still, today, there are festivals celebrating the Vikings. These mythological people are still very present.

Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

Philosophy vs science progress. What is more important to mankind? What makes us happy? The play Arcadia (1993) is set in a country house, Sidley Park, in Derbyshire, and follows the lives of people living there in the 1800's and present day.

The play is rich and complex. Stoppard explores many different themes and contrasts such as past and present, and order and disorder. They melt together and show that everything is connected. The story offers more questions than answers. It involves philosophy, history, classic literature, mystical poets like Lord Byron, landscape design, murder speculations, population dynamics, mathematical algorithms and thermodynamics. And everything comes together perfectly. Some of the characters even investigate science that challenges Newton's theories of physics. It's very interesting for people with great curiousity. 

The play also investigates the meaning of certainty, the nature of evidence and truth in modern ideas about history, mathematics and physics. Clues from the past can be interpreted in different ways. And because they can't be proven to be false, does that mean they are true? Is truth the necessary opposite of false? The characters are struggling with this problem when they are thinking about history and time. Much of the play centers around time - research about history and attempts of predicting the future with an equation, and the exceptions that make it impossible. They discuss the hypothetical theory about the prediction of the future being prevented by irregularities such as sex. Perhaps love is the exception of the rule, which makes the future so difficult to predict. The disorder in feelings, the contrast, or perhaps the connection, of passion and madness, is a kind of practical example of chaos theory. The concept of order vs chaos theory is explored in different ways, both in personal feelings and physical disorder (the table in the center of the room that collects objects from both time periods). The characters' social order moves into chaos, where time is depicted as a kind of illusion. However, there might be order in chaos, perhaps we are incapable of perceiving it because our lack of knowledge.

There's a tragic theme of smallness, universal insufficiency and the life going in one direction. Despite Newton's equations that goes both ways, there are certain events that are irreversible, like time, and fire and heat (the second law of thermodynamics), as well as the cooling universe and burned relationships. But the characters in the 1800's are living on in descendants and letters. Life is eternal, and at the same time, it is the exception of the rule. Stoppard paints this picture splendidly. When there's chaos, there are no longer any rules, and the different eras intermingle. The structure of the play is a work of art itself.

Last but not least, every theme is evolving from the source of love and death and it's both tragic, comical and thrilling. And regardless of time they think and reflect. This is a play for people not wanting to be served answers, but prefer to interpret and form their opinions along the way. Answers are not important. Conversation is. So, connecting the dots, philosophy or science progress, reflection or knowledge? When the characters face a dark future, and when the world is doomed – due to chaos theory - they turn to music and waltz. So, perhaps that is one answer to the question about what's more important to mankind?

Sapfo - dikter och fragment by Sapfo

”Jag säger dig, man kommer att minnas oss i framtiden.” - Verse 147. My own translation: ”I tell you, we will be remembered in the future”.

The words turned out to be a profetia. Sapfo is one of the first known poets in history. She has had an immense impact on the western society. For 2500 years, she has affected people with her poems and is still not forgotten. She introduced a certain concept of love that still remains in our society. The physical pain of love, that becomes a pathology. Our idea of passion. It all derives very much from her. 

Not much is known about her, but she was a great name in her time and later centuries. Platon spoke greatly of her, her image was pictured on coins and theaters made plays about her. Then came religion, and whether it was because of her gender or presumed homosexuality, she was no longer seen as a great poet, but a sinner.  In her own time she was considered a great poet, regardless of her privat life and sexuality. According to the authors and interpreters of the book, Ovidius might have been the first to introduce her as homosexual and promiscuous. The word lesbian derives from her.

The last century, however, her texts have surfaced yet again, and this is a new edition of translated and interpreted fragments, also containing the precious, one and only intact poem that has been found. Sapfo seems to have been a very intriguing person and it's fascinating to read poems that paint a picture of people's lives so long ago, and to realize that despite many changes around us, we are so alike.

The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg

"Utvandrarna", "The Emigrants", was published 1949 and is the first in a tetralogy about the Swedish emigrants during the 1800's. The conditions for the Swedish people back then were terrible, especially for the farmers. The ground was rocky and dry, nothing grew. The possibilities were very limited in the country-side. The men ended up with the same kind of work as their parents, often taking over their work on the farm, or becoming a farm boy somewhere else. The women were married to other farmers. Everyone fought against poverty and famine.

Karl Oskar and Kristina are fed up with their life in Småland and decide to embark on a small ship to Amerika, the mystical country where everything seems to be possible, and where there are no priests that decide what is right and wrong and you address everyone the same. Their opinions are without criticism. Amerika seems to be the perfekt place. The emigrants from Småland - Karl Oskar and Kristina, the young and curious Robert, the mistreated Arvid, the prostitute Ulrika and the religious Daniel, the latter belonging to "åkianerna", a group of a kind of puritanism - embark on the ship to Amerika. The crowded journey becomes a great challenge. It's interesting to be able to see the world from their perspective, their reflections of life and theories about the sea.

This is a glimpse of Swedish history. Many people have fought like these people for survival in a country with limited opportunities. The change Sweden has gone through in a hundred years is mind-blowing. When reading about priest's house calls examinations and the way farmers treated their workers, it's difficult to realize it's the same country as today. The hunger and poverty were wide-spread in the countryside. Everyone should think about and thank our ancestors for fighting so hard, it's through them we are living today.

När man skjuter arbetare by Kerstin Thorvall

”När man skjuter arbetare”, When workers are being shot, is based on the lives of Kerstin Thorvall's mother. In 1920's, Hilma, a young teacher from the north of Sweden meets Sigfrid, a charismatic, charming schoolmaster. She falls in love with this vivid character with his strange manner completely foreign to people from Norrland. Eventually, Hilma realizes that their different status and origin doesn't entirely explain his behavior. No one tells Hilma that Sigfrid is in fact bipolar and their wedding night is a catastrophe without proportions.

The story is dripping with injustice and prejudices. There was a horrible lack of acceptance of people being or thinking outside of the norms and bipolar persons didn't get a proper treatment for their condition and weren't allowed to marry and have children. Hence, the responsibility fell upon the two victims of the story. To make the marriage work.

The prejudiced middle class and the relentless, envious ”jante”-law - that still lingers on today, despite Sweden being one of the richest countries in the world - within the working class made it difficult for the main characters. Gossip seems to have been the main way of entertainment during coffee breaks. Religion was eminent and there seems to have been a kind of puritanism stronghold in the north. This is an interesting time since nowadays Sweden is a secularized country.

The Swedish welfare had yet to arrive. The feudal society and people with socialist sympathies, like Sigfrid, had difficulties to introduce their ideology. The title of the novel refers to workers that were shot during a demonstration in connection with a strike in 1931 - a tragic event later referred to as "Ådalen 31". Several people were killed.


"När man skjuter arbetare" is a one of a kind history lesson about the destinies of ordinary people in a country very different from today that needs to be remembered.

The Vampyre by John William Polidori

"The Vampyre",  published 1819, is considered the first vampyre story in English literature and the one turning the vampyre folklore into the classic tale, the mythical vampyre into the aristocratic, cultivated, intellectual and seductive creature. A young man, Aubrey, becomes fascinated with the mysterious Lord Ruthven that has entered London society. They travel to Rome, but Aubrey leaves Lord Ruthven due to certain circumstances. The next time they met, Aubrey's view of him would change irrevocable.

In this short story, the vampyre isn't charming as in later stories. He's egoistical, sadistic, ruthless and without empathy. He doesn't want to be a nice person. He wants to use people for his benefit. He is very generous when giving to people, with the seemingly good purpose of charity, but only to people that will use his money to end up in an even worse situation.

A great issue for Aubrey is whether to keep his word or save the one he cares about - which can seem absurd since most people would break their promises to save their loved ones. A word isn't always that much worth today. Back then, giving someone your word was probably something highly valued and irreversible.

There is not so much character development, as in many short stories, but the main characters are very interesting. Despite an almost non-existent dialogue the prose isn't heavy at all. The story is thrilling and Aubrey's anxiety and fear are felt by the reader.

This short story is immensely influential. It began in the early 1800's when the author elite - Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley, and Claire Clairmont - came together at the Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Among these authors were Byron's physician, John William Polidori. They decided to write a horror-story. This is a historical moment. Lord Byron and Percy Shelley discarded their stories, perhaps because they thought nothing could compare to poetry. Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" and Polidori used Byron's discarded attempt and wrote "The vampyre". Thus, this story is a work by both of them, and furthermore, the characters Lord Ruthven and Aubrey are based on Lord Byron and Polidori. Neither of them wanted it to be published, but nevertheless, it was.

It's impossible to describe the impact these people had and still have on authors and readers. What did they talk about? What fascinated them? These works of literature are only a small part, a tiny glimpse, of their strong imagination.

Vathek by William Beckford

The Caliph, Vathek, and his mother, Carathis, are cruel and ruthless in their search for knowledge and supernatural powers. Listening to Giaour, who claims to be an Indian merchant and has earned Vathek's attention, they abandon their faith, Islam, to live in sin and murder innocent people to sacrifice to Giaour - who work for the Devil, Eblis, and whose name means blasphemer - to be able to achieve these powers. Of course, it's not that easy.

Written in 1786, by the English author William Beckford, "Vathek" is one of the first gothic novels. One might view the book as a moral tale, or just a fascinating story about abandoning reason and empathy to achieve a goal that perhaps is superfluous. At the same time, the negative view of thirst for knowledge - apart from the cruel crimes committed to achieve it - is interesting.

Being a great inspiration to many authors, the expectations might be high. Unfortunately, the book, which is only 120 pages, is a heavy read and the character development, except from the main characters - is almost non-existent, which makes it difficult to maintain interest.

Salome by Oscar Wilde

The classic, biblical tale has been portrayed many times, in different ways. Oscar Wilde is just one among many authors that saw the potential in the tragedy and made the story his own, as a play. The main story about the tetrarch Herod's daughter that gets John the Baptist's head in exchange for dancing, is the same. But details are different. Historically, Salome was a more passive character, not well defined, without many lines. Originally, she didn't even have a name. She was just a price for her mother to pay for her own will. Oscar Wilde made her an own individual, with thoughts and feelings. Of course, she is still a victim of the patriarchy, but she also has power which she knows how to use. Tragically, the only power women had, in most cases, was their body.

Oscar Wilde's Salome is an interesting character. She isn't helpless in the same way as other versions, but a victim to her own lust, in the same way as Herod is portrayed. She uses Herod objectifying her to objectify John the Baptist. She does anything to finally be able to kiss him - or abuse him. This version is more about Salome's lust and will than Herod's lust and Herodias will. In this version it's Salome that wants John the Baptist's head. Since she can't master him in life, it has to be in death. There's no silver platter. Like a brutish conqueror, Salome takes hold of his severed head and kisses it. In this way, Salome's part isn't passive, but active, complicated, vengeful and ruthless. However, in the end, one might speculate about who is the most powerful character.

Oscar Wilde's prose isn't as rich and full of wit as it usually is. Whether it is a deliberate choice or not is unclear, but Salome shouldn't be about the prose. It's a simple tale with many complicated themes and way of interpretations.

The beast within by Émile Zola

The novel is dark and brutal with plenty of fights, sex and more murders than in any modern book. The story begins with a brutal scene between a married couple. Then, it just escalates into a crescendo of violence. ”The beast within” is such a contrast to the prudent writing of Victorian England.

Zola is examining the cause of violence. Jeaolusy, hatred and egoism are common factors, as well as the more unusually emphasized concept of atavism. Not one person is good. Every single one is very flawed and selfish, perhaps with the exception of the Cabuche, becoming a kind of martyr, carrying the burden of the defects of man. Zola doesn't portray women as particularly good creatures, but as guilty and evil as men, only that the conventions have made them think they need a man to do the deed, with Flore as an interesting exception. Of course, being a strong individual and able to make decisions and execute them, good or bad, Flore had to be very physically strong and big boned – described as manly, because a woman apparently can't be all that and still be feminine. On the other hand, Severine, a more timid woman - easier to like and identify with - made not so different decisions, which prove that Zola found women, regardless of their more or less modest or timid personality, as good or bad as men.

Despite all their flaws, the characters are easy to care for because they are portrayed as very human, perhaps more so than we might apprehend. They were not good nor exceptionally bad, just emotional and not very controlled, which, of course, brought disaster. Other factors are the occasion and surroundings. 

The concept of good and evil is very much a matter of circumstances, but all characters have the ability to be both. Everything exists in man. Every human being has a violent nature. What makes certain people commit murder is just due to circumstances. Another theme is the repercussions of succumbing to one's instincts. ”The beast within” is a refreshing, experimental analyses of violence and its core, origin and consequences. The railroad with its passing, unknowing, uncaring trains is a colorful contrast to the emotions living inside the characters, and the modern ways contribute to hide and repress the violent human nature, the beast within, making them appear civilized. As well as today. Civilization, with the conception of man above beast, might just be an illusion.

The torture garden by Octave Mirbeau

The novel, published in 1899, examines an attitude to life without right and wrong, good and evil. Beauty and pain are constantly present, mentally or physically. They are melting together and eventually it's difficult to see the difference. Perhaps they were always the same.

The story follows a young man, a corrupt politician, on a journey where he meets his love interest, a sadistic woman. She brings him to a torture garden in China, where old forms of torture are practiced and where he learns that pain borders on pleasure, and love and suffering originate from the same source of brutal emotions. The contrast, or perhaps the collaboration, between sadistic expressions of love and sensual expressions of death makes it beautiful and fascinating. The fact that they are codependent, that one can't be appreciated without the other, is apparent. Since the torture garden is beyond good and evil, neither one is less important and dignified. The infinite amount of passion and the perverted nature of human beings that might be the true nature, not the norm, have no limits. There is a freedom of expression that couldn't be found Europe in the late 19th century.

In the torture garden the beautiful flowers feed on blood from the tortured prisoners to prosper, and people are, in a way, reborn in a limitless cycle of life. In this world, pleasure is pain, love is suffering, torture is a work of art, blood is the wine of love and beauty is murder. At the same time the portrayal is a critique of the European society. The pages of murder and blood are ironically dedicated to people like priests, soldiers and judges, people who kill or restrict others from freedom and beauty. The torture garden might be interpreted as an allegory, an intense, miniature Europe. Mirbeau claimed that "the law of murder" was inconsistent in the late 1800's and wanted to portray the European civilisation as not so civilized. The government allowed murder when it benefited from it, but not when it had a real purpose. According to one of the characters in the book, the accepted view of war and colonialism were necessary because the government was only legitimized by murder. As this might also be the belief of the author, much of the book deals with these forms of hypocrisy. Just as in real life, executioners in the torture garden kill people in the service of death, but not for a meaningless purpose but as a work of art. Since we don't question murder in the service of rulers, politicians and judges, why would we question expressions of freedom and the beauty of art? Wouldn't that prove that we haven't learned anything the last century, and make us the very same hypocrites that Mirbeau indicated we were?

Clarimonde by Théophile Gautier

This collection includes four horror stories with gothic elements. La Morte Amoureuse, Le Chevalier double, Le Pied de momie and Deux acteurs pour un rôle. La Morte Amoureuse – Clarimonde – is the first and the most interesting.

The story centers around a priest, Romuald, and his meeting with a young, beautiful woman, Clarimonde. He is incapable of restraining himself and falls into a peculiar situation. The gothic segments are profound, and the story includes everything from death to vampires. Although, it's a rather nice vampire and a victim that prefers to be with her instead of living his chaste life.

The novel alternates between Romuald's two conditions and he is not aware of which is his real life. Is he dreaming when meeting Clarimonde, or when he is a priest? What is reality and what is illusion? Another question is whether it could all be a dream about seduction considering his newly taken wows?

Gautier was one of the initial French authors in the romantic period. According to Gautier, art is eternal, while everything else perishes. The phrase ”l’art pour l’art” - art for art's sake – is credited to him, even if not made up entirely by him. He claimed that art didn't need moral justification and was allowed to be neutral. Gautier was highly influential in the early romantic era.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

A governess is in charge of two orphan children, taken care of by their uncle who works in London and never wants to be disturbed. Eventually, the governess suddenly begins to see two phantoms, a man and a woman, near the children, and suspects that the latter know about these ghosts.

It's a chilling story, with gothic elements similar to ”The woman in black” and references to ”Jane Eyre”, but it's not as thrilling as it's reputation. Perhaps the reason is Henry James writing style, of course rich, but tricky and with endless punctuations marks that usually is rather favourable, but in this case might be considered used beyond all reason.

The interesting aspect is the many interpretations that can be made regarding the ghosts, the children and sanity of the governess. The two children, Miles and Flora, are utterly perfect, both their countenance and their behavior. Perhaps that is why something feels strange about them. The reader might wonder if they are real. What has been speculated and reflected upon is whether the governess is right in her conviction about the ghosts and the children's awarness about them, or, perhaps, that she is psychologically disturbed, imagining things and belonging in a alysum. The author gives no answer, and the reader is left to interpret the story.