Georg Falkenberg and Jan Myren first cross paths during the war. Georg Falkenberg was a resistance man who was ordered to execute a Nazi sympathiser, Jan Myren’s father, Magne. Later Georg and Jan are to meet under quite different circumstances. One has become a powerful industrial strategist, the other a famous artist. The plot spans the fifty-year-period from 1943 – 1993, a fascinating segment of Norwegian history. Ethical and existential issues have always lain at the heart of Erland Kiøsterud’s writing, and The First Work raises the questions: Is violence the necessary result of taking a stand? Is it necessary to commit wrongdoing in order to establish justice? Kiøsterud guides us with empathy and linguistic precision into the conflict between giving life and taking life.