From the acclaimed author of the Copenhagen Trilogy, a searing, haunting novel of a woman on the edge, portrayed with all the vividness of lived experience.
Copenhagen, 1968. Lise, a children's book writer and married mother of three, is increasingly haunted by disembodied faces and voices. She is convinced that her husband, already extravagantly unfaithful, will leave her. Most of all, she is scared that she will never write again. Yet as she descends into a world of pills and hospitals, she begins to wonder, is insanity really something to be feared, or does it bring a kind of freedom?
Translated by Tiina Nunnally
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241391914
Number of pages: 144
Weight: 114 g
Dimensions: 197 x 127 x 7 mm
The fact that Ditlevsen was herself one of insanity's intimates does much to explain this book's harrowing authenticity. But The Faces - in Tiina Nunnally's very deliberate, close-to-the-nerve translation - rises above a case study because, working from the inside, Ditlevsen is able to explore the surprising contours of Lise's experience: from her point of view, madness can be funny, soft and secure, and far more enlightening than the "reality" it struggles to evade - The New York Times
A searing but never sensational account of a usually hyped theme - the struggle of the artist to do her work, without guilt about family or the outside world. Admirably without self-pity, and often ironic, Ditlevsen is a voice to heed - Kirkus
these are the best books I have read this year 'Praise for the Copenhagen Trilogy' - John Self, New Statesman
Mordant, vibrantly confessional... A masterpiece 'Praise for the Copenhagen Trilogy' - Guardian
Wrenching sadness and pitch-black comedy ... Sharp, tough and tender 'Praise for the Copenhagen Trilogy' - Boyd Tonkin, Spectator
An inspired pick, especially for those readers whose introduction to Ditlevsen's work has been the Copenhagen Trilogy - Paris Review
‘’She could think about the words in peace, without fearing that new ones would appear before the night was over. During this time the night held the days apart only with difficulty and if she happened to breathe a... More
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