Paludan, Jacob

Madison. 1966. University Of Wisconsin Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Slightly Worn Dustjacket. Translated from the Danish by Carl Malmberg. 724 pages. hardcover. keywords: Literature Translated Denmark Scandinavia. FROM THE PUBLISHER - ‘I'll soon be thirty years old, but I don't think I've ever held the present moment in my hand, like a smooth, warm stone, and not wanted something else.' As he reflected on the past fifteen years, Jorgen Stein saw an endless struggle to formulate a philosophy of life which could sustain him as he grew older. Misled by the false optimism of a materialistic society, young Jorgen abandoned his conservative values and stable family heritage, stumbled through a series of unsatisfying jobs and disillusioning personal experiences, and finally turned to simple farm life in the desperate hope of finding some meaning for his restless life. Like all of Danish society-particularly ‘the generation that stumbled at the start' so strikingly interpreted in this novel-Jorgen Stein was unable to adjust to the changes resulting from the outbreak of World War I, and through a series of faulty decisions, he continued to flounder at every turn. A reader of this novel need not look to the critic for explanation and guidance, for the story Jacob Paludan tells is lucid, the problems real, and the characters so convincing that its impact has been felt for three decades since it first appeared in two parts in 1932 and 1933. inventory #27621