Dag Solstad writes Norwegian literary fiction about teachers, bureaucrats, intellectuals and other ordinary people whose apparently stable lives slip into alienation or absurdity. Shyness and Dignity follows schoolteacher Elias Rukla after an umbrella breaks outside a classroom and a small public frustration becomes a crisis in how he understands his work, marriage and social position. Novel 11, Book 18 centres on Bjørn Hansen, who abandons one life for another and later devises a drastic plan to withdraw from ordinary expectations. T. Singer follows a librarian who prefers anonymity but cannot avoid the claims of family and memory. Solstad's prose is dry, analytical and darkly funny, with long reflections carrying more weight than conventional action. His work fits Scandinavian literary fiction, existential comedy and novels of middle-class alienation. Read more Less
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