A gentle reader requested to know a bit more about Torgny Lindgren. And so ever one to oblige those seeking knowledge about my favorite writers, you all shall be punished for his curiosity. I have only five books, I don't know how many are available in translation: The Way of a Serpent , Light , Sweetness , Bathsheba , and Merab's Beauty . The first three that remain most vividly in my mind--the first a story about a wicked landlord who collects the rent from a family in rural Sweden and when the money runs out begins to exploit the women of the household. The title is taken from proverbs 30:19 the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. (KJV) And though my recollection is at something of a distance now, at least two, and possibly all three of these is developed in the course of a very short novel. Perhaps the best description of the book is gritty and realistic. I...
Why the reference to Dostoyevski?
ReplyDeleteOr was that merely a teaser?
Dear Fred,
ReplyDeleteOther than Joyce Carol Oates (and in the recent past Isaac Asimov) Alexander McCall Smith is one of the most prolific authors writing. He's relatively recent author who is producing a tremendous amount of material all the time--several books a year. That's the reference to Dostoevsky--sheer output. So much so that Dostoevsky is suspected of having temporal lobe epilepsy, which manifests in quite a different way than what we are used to for epilepsy.
shalom,
Steven
Steven,
ReplyDeleteOK. I was wondering. I have read some of Smith's works, and he never struck me as being especially Dostoyevskian in his writings.