Against Art

In contemporary Norwegian fiction Tomas Espedal´s work stands out as uniquely bound up with the author´s personal experiences. His last book, the prize nominee Walk, introduced us to the wanderer Tomas. Against Art is a novel that focuses on the author; on how a boy approaches art and eventually becomes a writer. It is about the profession of writing, about routines, responsibility and obstacles. But it is also a story about being a father, a son and a grandson; it is about a family and a family´s stories and about how preceding generations mark their successors. And it is a story about choices and changes, about motion and rest, about moving to a new place and about living.

Against Art won the Critics' Prize, was shortlisted for the Nordic Council's Literary Award and was longlisted for The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize 2013.

Foreign rights sold:
Bulgaria, Perseus
Croatia, Fidipid
Czech Republic, Havran
Denmark, Batze
Egypt, Golden Pony
France, Actes Sud
Germany, Matthes & Seitz
Hungary, Typotex
the Netherlands, Uitgeverij Wereldbibliotheek
Russia, Corpus
Serbia, Carobna Knijga
Spain, Lengua de Trapo
Sweden, Lindelöws
UK/US/India, Seagull

Please download sample translation:

«Great art.»
Standart, Denmark

«Against Art contains many books in one. Little novels, essays on gender, writing and love, notes from nature and memories from life as a young man in Copenhagen ... The writing is physical, as if you breathe in beat with the writing. You don't rush through the book to get to the end, you are so to speak one with the written present. Back and forth, around and around, starting over again and again, that is the way Espedal writes ... a great read.»
Berlingske Tidende, Denmark (5/6 stars)

«... deservedly nominated for the Nordic Council Literary Award.»
Kristeligt Dagblad

«Outstanding!»
Litteratursiden.dk

«... a superior mix of genres ... Like others of the previous year's Norwegian writers - but better than most - Espedal manages to write both lightly and personally, at times quite funnily, almost casually, based on what is apparently him elf and his own life, to create a peculiarly powerful literary universe.»
Jyllands-Posten, Denmark (5/6 stars)

«A sorrowful symphony ... Espedal's toil has born fruit, as the beautifully crafted prose of Against Art testifies to. He can write about his melancholy and grief in a way which makes the prose quiver.»
Weekendavisen, Denmark

«Against Art is so damned, thunderously well written. Without showing off, the words sparkle almost like drops of dew in the text's cob web. Hardly a page goes by without a phrase to take delight in, or a sharp insight you feel zooming by ... It's a book you would love to last longer.»
Politiken, Denmark (5/6 stars)

«... a beautifully poetic work of everyday ... He is a master, recognized in Norway, about to be so here [in Denmark], he has been nominated for the Nordic Council's Literary Prize, and now he shall be read.»
Nordjyske stiftstidende, Denmark (5/6 stars)

«Norwegian writers have a special knack for something. Something beautiful in the prose. Tomas Espedal is one of them ... Espedal's writing is so wild and poetic that your heart melts, when he quietly exhales the most beautiful sentences.»
Helsingør Dagblad, Denmark

«A lyrical style that captures both fleeting and enduring moments of happiness, but dwells to an even greater extent on the loss and grief that will and must follow. Espedal’s writing sparkles, some of his lines shine out, rich in association.»
Aftenposten, Norway

«One of the most beautiful, most important books I've read for years.»
Johan Harstad, Klassekampen, Norway

«Tomas Espedal has written an amazingly rich novel, which will assuredly stand out as one of the year's best and will also further fortify the quality of Norwegian literature abroad.»
Adresseavisen, Norway

«Tomas Espedal has a personally centred literary project that he pursues and expands with fascinating force and consistency (...) It's marvellous to have him around.»
Stavanger Aftenblad, Norway

«Against Art attacks literature while at the same time being intensely literary. Our greatest sorrows and torments, the individual experiences often so anaemic in art, find a voice of their own.»
Morgenbladet, Norway

«Espedal's book stands out signally as a wonderful piece of work that shuns easy, ingenious shortcuts, and as a result is solid to the core»
Bergens Tidende, Norway

«Perhaps it's as simple as that. Against Art deals with loss, and Tomas Espedal deserves to be published in forty languages.»
Klassekampen, Norway

«Against Art moves me with its maternal history and proves yet again that Tomas Espedal writes great novels.»
Dag og Tid, Norway

"... one of the most beautiful, most important books I've read for years"
Johan Harstad, Klassekampen

"Tomas Espedal has written an amazingly rich novel, which will assuredly stand out as one of the year's best and will also further fortify the quality of Norwegian literature abroad"
Stein Roll, Adresseavisen

 "Tomas Espedal has a personally centred literary project that he pursues and expands with fascinating force and consistency (...) It's marvellous to have him around"
Steinar Sivertsen, Stavanger Aftenblad

 "Against Art attacks literature while at the same time being intensely literary. Our greatest sorrows and torments, the individual experiences often so anaemic in art, find a voice of their own."
Bernhard Ellefsen, Morgenbladet

 "A lyrical style that captures both fleeting and enduring moments of happiness, but dwells to an even greater extent on the loss and grief that will and must follow. Espedal's writing sparkles, some of his lines shine out, rich in association"
Hans H. Skei, Aftenposten

 "Espedal's book stands out signally as a wonderful piece of work that shuns easy, ingenious shortcuts, and as a result is solid to the core"
Gro Jørstad Nilsen, Bergens Tidende

 "Perhaps it's as simple as that. Against Art deals with loss, and Tomas Espedal deserves to be published in forty languages"
Frode Johansen Riopelle, Klassekampen