Dorthe Nors

In these glittering, very funny stories, the acclaimed Danish writer Dorthe Nors sketches ordinary lives taking unexpected turns: a sons love for his father is tested when he suddenly discovers its fragility; a woman in an abusive relationship seeks to better understand the choices she has made; a man with dreams of self improvement is haunted by deceit; and a daughter watches on silently as her mothers search for meaning ends in madness.Blending compassion with dark delight, Nors conjures up a flawed, unsettlingly familiar world with each cautionary glance as fresh moments of wonder, romance and frail beauty are unexpectedly infiltrated by depravity, isolation and despair.

Las tragicómicas andanzas de una mujer solitaria, ya cuarentona, que decide aprender a conducir y a vivir de otra manera. Sonja, que tiene ya más de cuarenta años, vive en Copenhague. Soñó con ser escritora, pero se gana la vida como traductora de thrillers nordicos ultraviolentos. La suya es una profesion solitaria, que contribuye a aislarla. Su vida es rutinaria y no se siente muy feliz con ella. Y, para colmo, empieza a padecer vertigos, acaso provocados por un problema en el oido interno, o tal vez anuncio de un proceso depresivo.Y es entonces cuando Sonja trata de reconducir su vida tomando algunas decisiones: aprender a conducir con ayuda de un instructor por el que acabara sintiendo cierta atraccion, reconciliarse con su cuerpo a traves de unas sesiones de masaje con una masajista profesional e intentar retomar el contacto con su esquiva hermana Aunque las cosas no siempre salen como una espera.Esta es una de esas novelas en las que en apariencia pasan pocas cosas, pero el lector atento sabra descubrir los muchos y muy caudalosos rios subterraneos que fluyen por sus paginas. Con su prosa agil, ironica y punzante, la autora nos ofrece un retrato potentisimo de un personaje femenino en plena crisis de la mediana edad, con sus flaquezas y esperanzas de dar un nuevo sentido a su vida. El libro es tambien el retrato perspicaz y tragicomico de las soledades urbanas, plasmadas mediante un cumulo de pequeños gestos cotidianos, de palabras dichas o calladas, de actitudes humanas que a todos nos resultaran muy familiares.

Quince relatos prodigiosos sobre situaciones absurdas y desgarradoramente humanas, de la mano de la sensación de las letras danesas. Una mujer que termina una relación tóxica y violenta con un golpe de karate; un hombre que, mientras su esposa duerme, indaga en internet acerca de la historia de una asesina psicopata; la criada mexicana de una sofisticada pareja danesa instalada en Manhattan que debe bregar con un tomate gigante; un niño que, cargado de buenas intenciones, acaba horneando a un pato vivo; una persona con discapacidad que acepta un engaño en su busqueda de bondad humana; un hijo que descubre perplejo la fragilidad de su admirado padre; un hombre que decide aplicar el budismo a sus relaciones laborales con sorprendentes consecuencias... Estos son algunos de los singulares personajes que protagonizan los quince relatos aqui reunidos.Cuentos tan breves como contundentes, en ocasiones perturbadores y en otras perturbadoramente hilarantes, que escrutan con demoledora agudeza comportamientos humanos. Historias que nos hablan de soledades, anhelos, angustias, perplejidades, fragilidades, desconciertos y otras muchas realidades cotidianas.Con una economia de medios deslumbrante, un preciso control del ritmo y una endiablad

A hauntingly insightful new short story collection from the Man Booker International Prize shortlisted authorThis is a collection resplendent with longing. In these pages, people meet without actually connecting, travellers set off but never seem to find home. We encounter them on the fjords of Norway, in the bustle of Los Angeles, and among the lights of Copenhagen. Outsiders yearn to be on the inside, insiders are desperate to be free. A writer befriends an ex-lovers mother. An elderly man offers his body to aging women. A womans childhood memories of wild swimming draw her back to the water.In prose that is both elegantly spare and saturated with emotion, Dorthe Nors shines a light into forgotten corners and conjures darkness where its least expected. Her characteristic sharpness and sense of humour are ever-present, catching us when the melancholy threatens to come too close. Love, cruelty, friendship and loneliness are all here, in these stories that brim with life.Dorthe Nors was born in 1970 and studied literature at the University of Aarhus. She is one of the most original voices in contemporary Danish literature. Her short stories have appeared in numerous international periodicals including The Boston Review and Harpers, and she is the first Danish writer ever to have a story published in the New Yorker. Nors is the author of the novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, a novella Minna Needs Rehearsal Space and a collection of stories Karate Chop, also published by Pushkin Press. Karate Chop won the prestigious P. O. Enquist Literary Prize in 2014. She lives in rural Jutland, Denmark.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017 A spikily funny, startlingly perceptive and beautifully written novel about modern life by the brightest light in Danish fictionSonjas over forty, and shes trying to move in the right direction. Shes learning to drive. Shes joined a meditation group. And shes attempting to reconnect with her sister.But Sonja would rather eat cake than meditate.Her driving instructor wont let her change gear.And her sister wont return her calls.Sonjas mind keeps wandering back to the dramatic landscapes of her childhood - the singing whooper swans, the endless sky, and getting lost barefoot in the rye fields - but how can she return to a place that she no longer recognizes? And how can she escape the alienating streets of Copenhagen?Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is a poignant, sharp-witted tale of one womans journey in search of herself when theres no one to ask for directions.Dorthe Nors was born in 1970 and studied literature at the University of Aarhus. She is one of the most original voices in contemporary Danish literature. Her short stories have appeared in numerous international periodicals including including The Boston Review and Harpers, and she is the first Danish writer ever to have a story published in the New Yorker. Nors has published four novels so far, in addition to a collection of stories Karate Chop, and a novella Minna needs rehearsal space, also published by Pushkin Press. Karate Chop won the prestigious P. O. Enquist Literary Prize in 2014. She lives in rural Jutland, Denmark.

A moving novella unlike any other by the Man Booker International Prize shortlisted authorMinna is feeling desperate.Lars has just dumped her by text message. Her friends are constantly flaunting their lovers, children and dogs on Facebook. And her neurotic sister is everywhere she turns.Minna wants a place in Copenhagen to practise her music. Minna wants a child. But what Minna really needs is to get away from it all.So, with only Ingmar Bergman for company, she decides to take a trip to the coast.And there is more on the horizon than she might imagine.Dorthe Nors was born in 1970 and studied literature at the University of Aarhus. She is one of the most original voices in contemporary Danish literature. Her short stories have appeared in numerous international periodicals including The Boston Review and Harpers, and she is the first Danish writer ever to have a story published in the New Yorker. Nors has published four novels so far, including Mirror, Shoulder, Signal - shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize - and a collection of stories Karate Chop, also published by Pushkin Press. Karate Chop won the prestigious P. O. Enquist Literary Prize in 2014. She lives in rural Jutland, Denmark.

Beautiful, emotionally resonant and achingly contemporary stories from the Man Booker International Prize Shortlisted authorIn these glittering tales, Dorthe Nors sketches ordinary lives taking unexpected turns: a walk amongst the herons in Copenhagen inspires depraved thoughts; a woman in an abusive relationship searches for explanations; a man Googles female serial killers while his girlfriend sleeps; a daughter watches silently as her mother succumbs to madness.Blending compassion with dark delight, Nors conjures up fresh moments of isolation and frail beauty with each cautionary glance.Dorthe Nors was born in 1970 and studied literature at the University of Aarhus. She is one of the most original voices in contemporary Danish literature. Her short stories have appeared in numerous international periodicals including The Boston Review and Harpers, and she is the first Danish writer ever to have a story published in the New Yorker. Nors has published four novels so far, including Mirror, Shoulder, Signal - shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize - and a novella Minna Needs Rehearsal Space, also published by Pushkin Press. Karate Chop won the prestigious P. O. Enquist Literary Prize in 2014. She lives in rural Jutland, Denmark.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING AND THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHYAn exhilarating, moving account of life on the wild Danish coast, from one of Denmarks most acclaimed writersA beautiful, melancholy account of finding home on a restless coast Katherine May, author of WinteringThis is the story of the windswept coastline that stretches from the northernmost tip of Denmark to the Netherlands, a world of shipwrecks and storm surges, of cold-water surfers and resolute sailors wives. In spellbinding prose, award-winning writer Dorthe Nors invites the reader to travel through the landscape where her family lived for generations and which she now calls home. It is an extraordinarily powerful and beautiful journey through history and memory - the landscapes as well as her own.________FURTHER PRAISE FOR A LINE IN THE WORLDA place brimming with memories and strangeness, where storms surge and lighthouses blink... fascinatingFinancial TimesA singular prose stylist... Nors is such a great companion, honest and curious and surprisingMax Porter, author of LannyBrilliant... a personal, poetic meditation on this remote edge of windswept landscapes and wildwatersNew York TimesThe perfect winter read, making a virtue of dark nights and frost-bitten winds on the authors native North Sea coastObserverA deep dive into a coastal landscape, both breathtaking and hypnoticNatasha Carthew, author of Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience

Two works by Dorthe Nors, a collection of short stories and a novella, are brought together for the first time. In Karate Chop, a childrens psychologist, lost in self-doubt, examines her believed complicity in her own destruction; a man, obsessed with serial killers, turns to the internet to explore female violence; a mother and daughter travel to the Worlds End, in hope of finding their peace. In Minna Needs Rehearsal Space, Minna, musician, composer, artist, needs to find space to rehearse - or just space to get away. Away from the realities of life, from the meaningless interactions of our digital age, and from the loneliness of a relationship coming to an end. With stark, simple and stylishly original prose, Dorthe Nors explores the intricacies of modern existence and modern relationships. Reading like an antonym to our digital society, where much is said but little meaning is truly conveyed, Norss meticulously structured work examines the complexity, and sometimes cruelty, of human psychology and desire.

Quince relatos prodigiosos sobre situaciones absurdas y desgarradoramente humanas, de la mano de la sensación de las letras danesas.Una mujer que termina una relación tóxica y violenta con un golpe de karate; un hombre que, mientras su esposa duerme, indaga en internet acerca de la historia de una asesina psicopata; la criada mexicana de una sofisticada pareja danesa instalada en Manhattan que debe bregar con un tomate gigante; un niño que, cargado de buenas intenciones, acaba horneando a un pato vivo; una persona con discapacidad que acepta un engaño en su busqueda de bondad humana; un hijo que descubre perplejo la fragilidad de su admirado padre; un hombre que decide aplicar el budismo a sus relaciones laborales con sorprendentes consecuencias... Estos son algunos de los singulares personajes que protagonizan los quince relatos aqui reunidos.Cuentos tan breves como contundentes, en ocasiones perturbadores y en otras perturbadoramente hilarantes, que escrutan con demoledora agudeza comportamientos humanos. Historias que nos hablan de soledades, anhelos, angustias, perplejidades, fragilidades, desconciertos y otras muchas realidades cotidianas.Con una economia de medios deslumbrante, un preciso control del ritmo y una endiablada capacidad de observacion, la autora nos propone una jugosa galeria de peculiares personajes, un portentoso mapa de situaciones absurdas y desgarradoramente humanas.

Las tragicómicas andanzas de una mujer solitaria, ya cuarentona, que decide aprender a conducir y a vivir de otra manera.Sonja, que tiene ya más de cuarenta años, vive en Copenhague. Soñó con ser escritora, pero se gana la vida como traductora de thrillers nordicos ultraviolentos. La suya es una profesion solitaria, que contribuye a aislarla. Su vida es rutinaria y no se siente muy feliz con ella. Y, para colmo, empieza a padecer vertigos, acaso provocados por un problema en el oido interno, o tal vez anuncio de un proceso depresivo.Y es entonces cuando Sonja trata de reconducir su vida tomando algunas decisiones: aprender a conducir con ayuda de un instructor por el que acabara sintiendo cierta atraccion, reconciliarse con su cuerpo a traves de unas sesiones de masaje con una masajista profesional e intentar retomar el contacto con su esquiva hermana Aunque las cosas no siempre salen como una espera.Esta es una de esas novelas en las que en apariencia pasan pocas cosas, pero el lector atento sabra descubrir los muchos y muy caudalosos rios subterraneos que fluyen por sus paginas. Con su prosa agil, ironica y punzante, la autora nos ofrece un retrato potentisimo de un personaje femenino en plena crisis de la mediana edad, con sus flaquezas y esperanzas de dar un nuevo sentido a su vida. El libro es tambien el retrato perspicaz y tragicomico de las soledades urbanas, plasmadas mediante un cumulo de pequeños gestos cotidianos, de palabras dichas o calladas, de actitudes humanas que a todos nos resultaran muy familiares.

La Sonja té més de quaranta anys, viu sola a Copenhaguen i és traductora de novel·la negra. Ja fa temps que pensa que la seva vida necessita un canvi. Però per on pot començar? Ho té clar, aprendrà a