Middle aged academic Professor Andersen sits down to a lonely but immaculately presented Christmas Eve dinner, but his self-contained celebration is interrupted by the sight of a woman being strangled in the flat opposite. That's where any comparison with Rear Window would have to end. Having decided he is too inebriated to make a credible call to the police, the rest of the book and Professor Andersen's entire christmas holiday is spent obsessing about how to resolve this temporary lapse in civic duty. For an intelligent slice of Norwegian society, served ice cold, liberally sprinkled with philosophical angst, look no further. Dinner parties, snowy walks and long hot baths are all excellent places to prevaricate. Beer with an aquavit chaser optional.
Lucinda Corby (Thu 19th Jan 2012)
Publisher synopsis: It is Christmas Eve, and 55-year-old Professor Pal Andersen is alone, drinking coffee and cognac in his living room. Lost in thought, he looks out of the window and sees a man strangle a woman in the apartment across the street. Professor Andersen fails to report the crime. The days pass, and he becomes paralysed by indecision. Desperate for respite, the professor sets off to a local sushi bar, only to find himself face to face with the murderer. Professor Andersen's Night is an unsettling yet highly entertaining novel of apathy, rebellion and morality. In flinty prose, Solstad presents an uncomfortable question: would we, like his cerebral protagonist, do nothing?
ISBN: 9781843432128
Pub. Date: 3rd Nov 2011
Pages: 160
Height: 204mm
Width: 138mm
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 251gms
Translated by: Agnes Scott Langeland
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