Of Sleep and Darkness

Tormod is lying in the grass, putting himself in the place of the ants, those who live their lives in hiding, under rocks and roots. His dreams take him away from life in the fields, from harvests and concern for crops and animals. Tormod is born to take over the farm he grows up on,…

Of Sleep and Darkness takes place on an island at the western coast of Norway, and in Bergen from the 1960s to the 1990s. It’s a novel about a child who wants to be an adult, and a man who wants to run away from his childhood and leave behind the social class he has grown up in. It’s about dreams, responsibility and freedom, and about breaking with tradition in order to become an artist. With great power, Of Sleep and Darkness follows the way sleep moves through time and space, on the border between life and death.

Reviews

“A luminous book on life. If language is power, Tormod Haugland is a powerful man. He has language in the palm of his hand”
NRK P2

“In his own quiet, empathetic way, Tormod Haugland continues writing his life as a novel … no author I’ve writes with great tact and kindness for the people he grew up with: He has no axes to grind, nothing to avenge, nobody he wants to expose, unless it it’s himself he struggles to understand, no matter how painful it can feel. In the process he doesn’t og easy on himself, but still remains throughout the book a wonderful man to get to know … a coming-of-age and love novel of extraordinary quality”
5/6 stars, Stavanger Aftenblad

“A vivid, searching book on sleepwalking. Autobiographical and simple on the surface, but with a subtext rich in associations … The novel binds elements together in a way that creates crossing patterns and strange connections. Schools of herring swimming into the bay, the eyes of drunken men, great writing, all of this “shines” in the novel in the shape of reflections, like moonlight”
5/6 stars Bergens Tidende

Om søvn og mørke

Of Sleep and Darkness

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Contact agent

Henrik Francke

Reviews