THE FIRST ITALIAN REVIEW

A few weeks ago, Luca Vaccaris brilliant translation of Mitt grymma öde - "Händel e un destino perverso" - was published by Imprimatur editore. Now, to my great joy, the first review of the novel has arrived.

Katia Ciarrocchi writes very flatteringly in Lib(e)ro Libro:

"Your whole being is engaged when you read, hear and experience the paragraphs in Händel e un destino perverso, a 335 pages book that enabled me to (re)discover Händel in all his glory."

"Carl Michael Edenborg's mastery shows not only in his description of the composer's life, but also when he colors and enrichens the paragraphs with growing bustling steps in the important moments in the musical formation of the composer."

Ciarrocchi ends her review with these enthusiastic words:

"According to Norra Skåne, Händel e un destino perverso is a 'orgy in the sexuality of Händel'. I totally agree. It's a book that enchants you and transports you beyond words. A book where the music takes possession of the soul and your limbs enjoy every vibration."

(Thanks Luca Vaccari for help with the translation.)

HÄNDEL IN ITALIAN

As I'm writing this, the Imprimatur Editore in Reggio Emilia is publishing the italian translation of my historical fantasy about Händel: Händel e un destino perverso. The translation is made by Luca Vaccari. The work is available both on paper and as an ebook. I'm very much looking forward to the reviews, and I hope my text will interest the readers as much as it did when it was published in Sweden in 2012!

(The translator Luca Vaccari with the italian and swedish editions)

PAST THE LIMIT AND OTHER EROTIC STORIES

As some may have noticed, it did not take more than four months after the Alchemist's daughter (Alkemistens dotter, Natur & kultur) was presented and to my pride became an August Prize Nominee in October 2014, before my next book appeared; this time a collection of erotic short stories, published by Xtory, an imprint of Linds förlag.

Past the limit and other erotic stories (Över gränsen och andra erotiska noveller) contains 13 stories that range from classic left-hand literature to hysteric writing, from absurdist slapstick to realistic but unheimlich descriptions of everyday life sex, depending, of course, on the reader's mood and taste. Among them you also find a piece of my own fan fiction: when I describe what really happened when Rebis and Andreas (from The Alchemist's daughter) go to bed.

(The beautiful cover was made by my genius wife, Loka Kanarp.)

These short stories are the funniest and indeed most personal texts I've worked with in several years. I wrote them during an intense period in the hot summer of 2014; often they had their origin in one or another tale I improvised for friend's entertainment in a orgiastic setting. But in a couple of cases the ideas came from others.

Unlike writing a novel, there is a liberating ease in working with these short texts which are not filled up with characters and where dramaturgy and choreography do not be as complicated as in a 400 pages long adventure.

As for the media reception, there have been two paper reviews and two blog reviews. The paper reviews are diametrically opposed: the critic Camilla Carnmo passionately loves the book (Kristianstadsbladet), while the critic Tim Andersson absolutely loathes it (in UNT, his text is unfortunately, not on the Internet), even finding some cryptoracist themes in it. 

Here are a few samples:


Camilla Carnmo: "I read and I get aroused. But that's not the only thing I like about this book. / It's nice that men and women fuck each other, indiscriminately. The desire is directed in different directions, the power structure is in motion. Men may be objects of women's judgment and laudatory glances. But it's certainly not "equality pedagogics,". This is not texts without balls, but they assume that every individual is horny and equally strong, and there is humor, as in the dialogue-based story about the football team, where players jerk and cheer each other with classic football jargon. (---) but it shows nevertheless that it is a "real" writer (one who can write on a more advanced literary level than is usual in the genre) that have been the creator. Even that's exciting. "

Tim Andersson: "Rather than meeting an explosive parapornography you are confronted with old-style garbage-sorted welfare state porn (though of course supplemented by more gazes than the heterosexual male). (---) Even more difficult to digest is the fact that the degree of people's attraction over and over again is produced in direct relation to the absence of pigment in their skin. (---) The book is easy to swallow, but afterwards you would prefer to spit it out. "


As for the blog reviews, they are more ambivalent  For the blogger Bookworm, the reading experience was somewhat mixed but basically exciting:

"And it works. It's exciting. And even if not all the stories are in my taste, many of them are. And none of them disgusts me which could easily have been the case. It's a difficult balance to write about sex so that it becomes enticing and arousing rather than off-putting and disgusting. (---) It starts fine. The short story about the male life drawing model sets the tone. "

I was particularly glad over the brilliant Björn Kohlströms (Bernurs) close critical reading of the collection, which also suggests that one could call a "mysterious" (or in his words "transcendent") tendency in many of the stories, a perspective that is highly important in all my writings:

"The risk is well that the fun takes over - however, some of the short stories hint at something unheimlich, and we even find a dark figure in the corner, something monstrous that seems to have housed there since Lovecraft wrote his lugubrious work. An evil foreboding is planted here and there, with a touch of anxiety, and this is probably a necessary ingredient, otherwise the texts threaten to become too much cute clothes' fetishism, with a lot of knee-high socks and other paraphernalia to be used up. (---) Nevertheless: the imagination is the last word, and these short stories clearly show the important function of imagination, both in literature and in the themes embodied in these stories. (---) should I try to find a common theme, it would be transcendence, where eroticism is used as a method to lift the individual from a height that must be described as bliss."

I'm looking forward to more responses -and of course hearing from interested foreign publishers. It is not common for an established (have I become such a thing? Yes, probably...) author to put his name on one of the lowest forms of genre literature. Hopefully, this will help more writers to dare.

(Över gränsen och andra erotiska noveller can be bought in hardcover, epub file and mp3, which I read myself. If you want to consider the rights, please contact me directly.)

PRIZES

To my great joy, my publishing house Natur och kultur gave me a generous subsidy: the reason is that my latest novel, Alkemistens dotter, was nominated for the August prize (which it, alas, didn't win even if the nomination itself was very flattering).

Two days later, the swedish Samfundet De Nio decided to award me a prize of 30,000 SEK for my writings - very welcome and pleasurable.

So, now, being moved from the gutter  where I've spend most of my life to the swedish cultural establishment, despite reputation as being a provoker and a bad boy. This means I've got to change my style. Here goes:

PRAISE OF THE ALCHEMIST'S DAUGHTER

”Edenborg has created his own Kill Bill, a swedish warrior princess. /…/ I understand why the novel was nominated for the August Prize, it would not surprise me if it won. ”Alchemist’s Daughter” is sharper than anything Edenborg has written earlier. The style is more compelling, the plot stronger and there is a restrained intensity that makes the text not wriggles on the surface. It is this grim darkness that makes it interesting and entertaining. / ... / Here are secret ciphers that must be solved, the hunt for the philosopher’s stone and much else that makes of ”The Alchemist’s daughter” a sort of Harry Potter for grown-ups. / ... / The novel is irresistible, Rebis Drakenstierna is a bombshell.  (Anna Hallberg, Dagens Nyheter

”It is a compelling depiction of the times, an action-packed and steamy tale of adventure and a penetrating portrait of a young woman’s development. All in one. I can’t stop reading. / ... / ”The Alchemist’s Daughter” could have remained a rich and entertaining tale, but Edenborg wants more than that. The depiction of Rebis’ struggle with herself, with her feelings and conscience, is the heart of the story. And the sweet thing is that she comes so close to her readers that I eventually hope she actually succeed in his task. / ... / Oh yes. The August jury thought quite right to designate this novel for the price. ” (Oline Stig, Syd-svenska Dagbladet)

”Exciting in Dan Brown’s best-spirit.”  (Ulrika Kärnborg, Aftonbladet)

”An easy to read suspense novel, while full of layers of ideas of what life is, that makes me as a reader to reflect and ponder.”  (Simon Olofsson, Piteå-tidningen

”The Alchemist’s daughter impresses in it’s deep historical knowledge. The alchemical details sometimes becomes almost magical: athanor, dew salt, phioler, transmutation. It is an epic novel.” (Max Hebert, Gävle Dagblad

”The Alchemist’s Daughter is an entertaining hunt for doomsday, where fantasy, horror and esotericism are boiled into a simmering black mixture ” (Ann Lingebrandt, ETC

”The novel may be bloody, sometimes horrifying, and juicy. In the end, it’s a tale of carres­sing, devout love. A love that neither demands the destruction of the person or the universe and that, in an unusual literary and awesome way, molds women in a historical milieu without making them victims ” (Ingrid Bosseldahl, Göteborgs-Posten

”The intrigue in Carl-Michael Edenborg’s new novel is irresibly grand…the Alchemist’s Dauther is a shamelessly entertaining novel.” (John Sjögren, Upsala Nya Tidning

”Rebis’ journey through her world and her time creates both laughter and tears… The Alchemist’s Daughter is a book that should be read in school as part of the history curriculum.” (Tharos Gröning

”Edenborg is a brilliant stylist and teller of tales. But except of being a vertiginous historical adventure, filled with color, fragrances, stench and fine details, The Alchemist’s Daughter is also something else and more. It tells us something absolutely timeless about the sould of man.” (Anna Rudberg-W, Östgöta Correspondenten)

ÁLVARO ENRIGUE

Monday October 27th, I had a public colloquy om the Internationell författarscen in Malmö with the great Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue about his recent novel Muerte Subita (Sudden death) that has been named Tiebreak in swedish, published by Natur & kultur.

 

If you're interested in Álvaros work, in the colonization of Mexico, in testicles, virility, baroque art and violence, you should listen to our conversation. You find it here, it's one hour long, included are also the actress Hannah Canvert's readings of some essential passages in the novel:

https://soundcloud.com/malm-bibblans-radio/alvaro-enrigue-i-samtal-med-carl-michael-edenborg


I was very flattered when Alváro  afterwards gav me hug and told me that he thought ours was the best writer's discussion he'd ever experienced. According to him, I am the only critic and reader who has understood the secret centre of the novel: Bolyn's balls. So we talked a lot about machismo, castration and testicles.

THE ALCHEMIST'S DAUGHTER NOMINATED FOR THE AUGUST PRIZE

The August prize (Augustpriset) is the most prestigious literary prize in Sweden. To my great joy, my latest novel, The Alchemist's Daughter: End of the Universe (Alkemistens dotter: Slutet på universum) has been nominated together with five other works.

My precious novel, My Cruel Fate (Mitt grymma öde, 2012), a historical phantasy about the composer Händel, has been sold to Italy and Denmark.

This time I represent my own authorship without middlehands. Are you interested in receiving reading copies, sample translations or discuss rights, please don't hesitate to contact me. You can also contact my swedish publishing house, Natur och kultur.

My mail: cedenborg(AT)gmail.com
Cell phone: +46704490922

For more info, reading copies etc, contact Bonnie Halling at Natur och kultur: Bonnie.Halling(AT)nok.se